Prey
by ella0minnow0pea
Summary: Sequel to Hunter. Amanda Post, vampire hunter, faces unexpected challenges when she moves to New York. Danger, death, a whole lot of fighting, and maybe a little bit of romance?
1. Prologue

Prey Chapter One: Prologue

A/N: Yes! I've been looking forward to this! I'm excited! It's a new story! I bet everyone can guess what's going to happen. It seems too obvious to me. But if you don't know, or have it wrong... Don't start jumping to conclusions.

Disclaimer: Sue me not, for I own not a vampire to my name.

Amanda Post was a vampire hunter. A great one. She'd been able to kill every vamp she'd come across, with the exception of seven. That would be the Cullen family, a coven of vampires with a more modern lifestyle. Instead of human blood, their diet consisted of animals, and Edward had a human girlfriend, except girlfriend wasn't exactly the right word. Soulmate seemed to fit a bit better, but even that was trite when you saw the depth of their connection.

Amanda was currently brooding in her car as it sped to New York. There, she would end her life as Anna Gregorson, high school senior, to Anna Gregorson, college student. She got her GED right before she left. She planned on taking correspondence and internet courses. She'd gotten a job at Barnes and Noble, after setting up a conference call interview. She'd put on her best "Service with a smile" attitude. It had been dazzling. The boss had stars in his eyes.

After finally reaching the Big Apple, Amanda searched around for her apartment building. Ah. There it was. It was one of the tall ones. She paid a porter fifty bucks to drag all of her stuff upstairs, and she got into her private elevator and sped up to the top floor. Why the bells and whistles and the big tip? She had bought a penthouse suite. Amanda figured that a whole "Night Watch" might take a while- why not live in style? Besides, it had added security and if the sharpening of knives worried people in the night, she would simply be called eccentric. Rich people weren't crazy. The first thing Amanda did was plaster several Andy Warhol prints onto the walls. There was a banana, a red cat, some large purple knives, Chairman Mao, and four Campbell's soup cans. Then she unpacked everything.

She had a frozen Totino's pizza.

She drank some limeade.

She turned on the TV, searching for worthwhile shows.

She turned off the TV. Nothing good was on. She really had to install cable or something.

Amanda was bored out of her mind.

The little voice in the back of her head had a suggestion. "Why not hunt some vampires? It's already dark. They'll be prowling!"

Amanda considered. That sounded fairly reasonable. That was, of course, what she did. "Ok, that sounds like a great idea. I'll grab the knives!"

Anna put on a semi-formfitting pink top that proclaimed "I heart NY" with a scoop neck and white tank top. She ate a banana, because she'd heard that if you eat bananas, mosquitoes are more likely to bite you. She wondered if that same logic applied to vampires, and decided it was worth a shot. Anna was now in character. She was new to the big city, easy to lure into a dark alley and eat. She curled her hair a bit, but left out the hairspray. A more natural scent would appeal to any lurking evil, she guessed. So she set out, looking around with the mildly-confused-but-trying-to-hide-it-otherwise-who-knows-what-could-happen look. She quickly made it to the dingier parts of town, where her pink made her an obvious standout. She was alone, and completely unprotected apart from the two werewolf knives and small can of gasoline and matches hidden in her purse. After thirty minutes of circling the same block, a tall dark handsome stranger came out of nowhere to lend her a hand.

Time for the sign check.

Pale- check. The dim streetlight made him glow like the moon.

Strong- check. He pulled her aside from the loop.

Unbearably attractive- check. This one had dirty blond hair in a short cut. "May I be of assistance? You look lost." His voice was low and quiet.

Red eyes- check. They were glowing, though he turned his face mostly aside. Newborn?

Scent- he had that same sweet smell radiated by all of their kind.

She clung to him as if stupid. "I- I don't remember how to get to my hotel. Can you get me to the Red Lion?" The vampire was pleased. His meal had come straight to him. How long had it been since he had last fed? The hunger was getting stronger.

This is where things fell apart. Amanda had drawn her knives, and had snaked an arm around his back to stab. However, at that moment, the vampire drew her into a dark corner of the nearest alley. One of the knives clattered to the ground. Amanda hadn't expected this. The vampire's attention flashed to the streets. He realized that there was something going on that he had no idea about. Amanda, having only human reflexes, realized that one knife wasn't going to do her nearly as much good. The fight was on. Amanda had to be extra ferocious, jabbing and stabbing at every opportunity. But she had blindspots now, places she couldn't protect.

The vampire, just before she slashed off his head, bit Amanda's neck. They both fell to the ground. Amanda used her last bit of strength before the fire set in to pull out the gasoline and light a match. The body of the vampire was in flames. And in a figurative way, so was Amanda's.

She pulled a pothole lid off of the street, and passed out with the effort of trying to climb in, splashing into the water below.

A bubble of blood bloomed out of her mouth as her frail frame lay slumped against the walls of the tunnel, partly covered in sludge. At this point, Amanda didn't care. "Just die already." was her last thought before slipping into the fire, surrendering her consciousness.

A/N: Bet you weren't expecting that. You thought she would fall madly in love with Mr. Blond Vampire Guy- you were wrong. He's dead, and Amanda... Ooh, how I love cliffhangers.


	2. Sewer Rats and Alley Cats

Prey

Chapter One: Sewer Rats and Alley Cats

Disclaimer: Yeah. I don't own Twilight.

A/N: Sorry if that opening seemed rather... sudden. And there were what, three or so reviews? Come on, guys.

Amanda had been burning for four days straight. This, you might say, is not accurate. A vampire transformation takes three days! About three days, is my response. It depends upon the amount of venom. Amanda didn't get that much.

Amanda's eyes flew open as the last of the pain left her. She gasped, sitting up. The motion took an unusually short amount of time. A sense of creeping dread came over the vampire hunter as she put two and two together, two being that she had been bitten, and the other two being that she was alive.

More or less.

She groaned, recalling the events of the night before. Her knife had fallen. She'd put up a good fight, but he'd bitten before she was able to perform the fatal blow. She'd been bitten.

Bitten.

She was a vampire. "Oh crap." Amanda whispered. After the initial shock had passed, Amanda became intensely aware of her new senses. The concrete floor beneath her...the warm spring air...she stopped breathing. She had forgotten that she was in a sewer. Amanda looked down at the sludge blow her, afraid of what her reflection would hold. Long black hair fell in dark curls around her shoulders. Her skin was whiter than paper. Eyes, bright crimson. Lips, a full red. Two pointed fangs protruded just below... Amanda jerked back, hitting her head on the cement, which cracked slightly under the blow. She rubbed her head, a reflex left over from her human days, although the cement had done her no harm.

This wasn't right. None of the Cullens were that pale, or any of her other victims, for that matter. And none of them had fangs. Also, where on earth had that black hair come from? Worried that something had gone wrong with her transformation, other than the result of becoming a vampire, Amanda a cautiously peered over the sewage for a second look. The normal brown hair was there, and the skin was nowhere near as pale as before. Her teeth, she saw, were sharper, but otherwise unchanged. Pity. Fangs would be so much easier for hunting. She almost regretted that. Her eyes were burgundy, not crimson. To her embarrassment, she was much prettier. She couldn't help but gawk at the reflection that faced her. She shook her head.

Stop it. She ordered herself. Figure out what's going on. Do you have your cell phone on you? Amanda patted her pockets. She felt the smooth rounded corners of her iPhone, but when she took it out she saw that it had been damaged by the heavy beatings her body had taken during her transformation. She pushed the on button experimentally. A series of flickering images in distorted colors told her that it was beyond repair. "Blast." Amanda threw it against the wall in frustration, forgetting her strength. The iPhone exploded into so much iDust.

Suddenly, the most overpoweringly delicious smell Amanda had ever known wafted through the hole in the pothole cover. Blood. She knew it instinctively. She felt a slight tugging at her upper lip as two fangs pushed their way out of her mouth, and she almost found herself climbing out of the hole to get closer, closer to that warm... red... liquid...But then the pressing matter of the mysterious fangs caught her attention. She checked her reflection again. There they were, pointy and all of that. She closed her eyes, hoping that what she was seeing wasn't true, that she was an ordinary person, had never gotten bitten by any vampire. She felt the fangs go away and she opened her eyes. There she was. Anna Gregorson in all of her human glory. Brown hair...Brown eyes...human jaws... she tested her arm under the light peeking out from the street. No glow, no sparkle. It was still an arm, albeit a better lit one. She frowned, pulling her arm back. She pinched it. Still hard. She checked her pulse. Still dead. So... She wasn't human, she just looked like it. What kind of supernatural vampire gift was this? She looked like a human, then a vampire... That didn't sound like when she was human. Since when had she impersonated vampires?

A thought occurred to Amanda, a theory she couldn't shake. She closed her eyes, picturing the face she had worn a few years ago, when she had been a complete goth. Before the switch was even complete, Amanda opened her eyes, surprised at the shortening of her hair. She'd forgotten what that felt like. She stretched into a half upright crouch, examining her reflection in the sewage. Every detail was perfect, from her goth tipped nails to her scuffed army boots. She was shorter, too. Almost trembling with excitement, Amanda had one last experiment.

She concentrated, and Tom Mapple was looking into her reflection. "Y-you're a v-v-v-vampire?" She imitated his high, cracking voice perfectly. Amanda chuckled, returning to her own shape, though she altered it to include brown eyes. But then she became sad. It had been what- three? Four days? What would he think when he saw the news, which he was no doubt checking obsessively? And he wouldn't have gotten a reply to any of his emails... He'll think I've been killed. And he's mostly right. She grimaced, picturing his fear if he ever knew what happened. She sighed, plopping down on the cement. A rat scuttled by, and before Amanda even knew what was going on , she had it clamped in her mouth, pumping out the juices. It didn't take long. She threw the body of the rat into the river of filth. She saw with curiosity that her fangs had come out again.

She had a theory about that. When she woke up, she had been afraid that vampire incarnate would have been her new face, her humanity all but erased. So it was. And she had thought that drinking blood without them would be a hassle. She smiled. It was hard for her not to find the humor in the situation. But then she was serious again. She was in a tight spot. She couldn't contact anyone, due to the death of her cell phone. She couldn't leave the sewer, or she would most likely kill people. So.

She would just... Chill. For a year or so.

A cat wandered by, looking swollen with rats and disease. She snapped it's neck and had a drink. It's not like she had any elk, deer, bears, or mountain lions around. She had to make do with sewer rats and alley cats.

So... She would just chill.

Great.

A/N: Poor Amanda. You're all probably angry at me for taking it in such a stupid direction, so I'd like for all of you to vent in the form of reviews. All of you buggered readers, tell me how you really feel.


	3. Information WantedPart of the Problem

Prey: Information Wanted/Part of the Problem

A/N: I'm sorry if it wasn't obvious. Amanda can change her appearance, and when she held her arm under the light, it didn't sparkle because she was disguised as human. She sparkles when out of disguise. And If you have just started reading Prey without reading Hunter, (Prey is a sequel) then it's going to be difficult, like reading HP7 w/o reading 1-6. You won't know some characters, and what horcruxes are. And by the way, I know it's been at least a month. Read the end note.

Disclaimer: The owner of Twilight lives in Arizona (given) I do not live in Arizona (given) Therefore, I am not the owner of twilight. (Obvious). I write too many proofs.

It didn't take Amanda very long to get bored, sitting in the sewer. Three weeks, maybe four. Seriously, when you're living in a river of filth, eating rats and other foul creatures, there's not much to do. She impersonated celebrities for a while, but even that got old without someone to laugh with. Tom. Had she been human, a lump would have caught in her throat. "Tom." She whispered. A thought occurred to her. He would try to find her. He would come to New York, and he would try to find her.

He knew her style.

He knew where to look. What if he got too close? Amanda stopped herself. She couldn't dwell.

Then Amanda remembered something about sewers. People lost stuff there.

So she began a little game for herself. She found a net lodged at a grille, and used it to scoop up sludge from the bottom of the filthy river, shaking it lightly. After an hour, she had dredged up a leather wallet, two wedding rings, an old boot, and a crate of water bottles. These she seized upon with delight, pouring over her head to free the crap from her hair and clothes. Sewers do not agree with personal hygiene. When she felt semi-decent again, she decided that if she was to stay clean, she had better find a less crappy area. After a few minutes of wandering, Amanda discovered what looked like an abandoned smugglers tunnel. She chose an outfit of knockoffs, and was dressed freshly in seconds. But the sweeping beam of a flashlight and the ever delicious scent of human made her take pause, and abandon all thoughts of fashion. Two humans, stumbling aimlessly in the tunnels, drifting nearer to their doom. Her fangs started to elongate, and she found herself dashing over to their tunnel. But just when it seemed like it would be too late, she recalled some last shred of humanity and drew back, shutting her nostrils to the smell. That warm, pulsing, ever luscious scent...

Stop.

No going crazy.

Stifle those crazy vampire urges.

You're better than that. They're not snacks- they're people.

And they're talking about you. Amanda jerked out of her pep talk, alarmed.

Her subconsciousness was right. They were talking about her. "So strange- this girl checks into her apartment, unpacks her stuff, and goes on a jog-- never seen again." Male. Tall. A second voice joined the first. "Did they find any kind of clues for suicide? Family problems, something at school..." Female- weak, smaller than the male. She would be an easy prey. Stop it! They're talking about you. You're an item of news. Missing. Listen. "No, that's the odd thing. Perfect school record- at her last high school, she was one of the most popular girls. And family issues? Here's the thing- no one knows where her parents are. They've been listed as being in Africa. Doing volunteer work." "well," the female said pragmatically. "She might have separation anxiety. Stress could have been building up-" she was cut off. "No, everyone says that they were out of the town most of the time- she fended for herself, for the most part. And she was pretty resilient." "Huh." Amanda knew that she had to get out of there fast. But what could she do? She was completely blocked. There was no way she could escape without attracting undue attention from the investigators heading her way, and if they got too close... There was only one solution. She looked overhead at the pothole cover. She cautiously sniffed the edge. She was still on the wrong side of town, and there was a curious smell of... letters? A post office, perhaps. And it was closed. She smiled, trying to hide a grimace. She could only hope that she wouldn't get near a human. She shuddered, pushing back the lid effortlessly and soaring into the night.

The street was mostly empty, so no one noticed her abrupt appearance. She quickly changed to a less conspicuous form, faster than the most sophisticated camera could detect. Blond. Blue eyes. Curls like Shirley Temple, the brat. A sundress with a daisy print, and blue wedge heels. It became an effort to hold so many different parts of her being together, and she ducked behind the post office in an alley. She thought about what she had seen in the sewer, and realized the greater implications of what was happening. They had been serious in their search, and they hadn't even known her. What would Tom do about this latest news? To her growing horror, Amanda played out a likely scene.

Tom would have rushed to New York, facing his greatest fears to ensure the safety of his friend.

He knew that she generally liked to work in dingy areas without security, so he would go to the alleys.

Find her, a newborn. She would kill him. With disgust, Amanda realized that her venom was flowing at the idea of a fresh kill. At killing Tom. Tom, innocent, smart, caring Tom, who had no way to protect himself. No knives or anything. Amanda knew what she had to do.

The post office was easy to break into. She wrapped up her two most treasured possessions in bubble wrap, and tenderly placed them in a box. She forged a note from her lawyer, who was dispensing items in her will, along with the message, "Anna Post has left the following African Ivory hunting knives in the possession of a Mr. Tom Mapple, noting that 'he'll know what to do.'" Part of Amanda's routine for relocation was to draw a will, and Tom knew this. It wouldn't be a stretch for him to think that she would have wished that they go to him. But then the smell of blood filled her mind again, and she imagined the softness of a pulsing neck, the warmness of blood running down her throat, filling her veins. A river of blood, hot and sweet. Hands dripping. She postmarked the package, left a quarter, (it takes a while for vampires to accumulate vast wealth, Amanda had realized.) and took the nearest passage back to her sewers. She found a sick cat, luckily, and was able to keep herself from going crazy for now. She was going to go off human blood the old fashioned way- cold bat. None of this, "It's ok if you break the rules once or twice" crap. She knew what killing was, and it was wrong. The other part of her, the Amanda cloaked in shadows, sitting in her VW bug, the immortal, thirsty, shapeshifting part, was bringing up overpopulation and relative ethics as well as the possibility of being irrevocably damned in an attempt to persuade her to break her concentration. Her dark passenger- it was thirsty for blood. A cold blooded killer. It would feel no sadness for the death of Tom. (whoever catches the reference to an awesome book starting with D gets kudos. And a shout-out, as it were.)

She glared at the corpse of the cat in her arms. It hadn't been a pretty death. The cat had gone out screaming and hissing, wailing and gurgling. Being killed by a vampire was horrible. It wasn't like shows where a moment after the bite, the victim passes out conveniently, falling limp. There was a struggle. A fruitless struggle, but that's what made it all the more difficult. Vampires- that was pure excessiveness. The speed. The strength. The looks, charm, breath, mysterious powers, all of that. How did humans stand a chance? It wasn't fair. There should be a way out. Not every town has resident werewolves. Humans should be able to save themselves somehow, some way. Amanda caught her reflection. She still hadn't discarded her Shirley Temple look, and the sweet childlike face didn't quite mesh with the image of blood dripping down her chin. She growled in her throat, angry at herself, humans, vampires, everyone. She was stuck in the worst situation in the world. She couldn't escape death. Too often her life had been touched by it's devastating effects- her parents, classmates, and countless others. But she had been part of the solution. Now, she was part of the problem.

A/N: I feel like absolute crap about not getting this chapter out. I had it written mostly for a while, but two people close to me were recently murdered. The killer is still out there, and it's been really screwing with my head. Also, this story is eventually going to overlap BD, I'm guessing. And that isn't due for what, two months? I don't know if at that point, Bella will be in Italy, be a vampire, be having stupid cold feet and Jacob love, (bleah.) or if something else entirely will be going on. So that's confusing.


	4. Expansion

Prey: Expansion

A/N: Shocking, I know, that I should actually update. But I felt bad about last time. Here you go! Oh, and BIG thanks to thor-a-dor for reviewing and sending me a PM when I didn't update! It made me put up a chapter immediately. And now, I work on the next one.

Disclaimer: I don't even own a copy of Twilight or the Host, which, BTW, everyfreakingbody should read. It was amazing.

Amanda, weakened in her control by her trip to the surface, promised herself that she would stay in the sewers for however long it took for her to learn self control. She breathed rarely, only when she became immensely uncomfortable. She killed almost every animal she came across- she would be that many pints more prepared if a human somehow managed to wander too close. Several weeks of this resulted in a newspaper article noting the remarkable lack of rats, and if this new change marked the triumph of pest control, or a sign of serious environmental issues.

Months...Passed...the news forgot about the missing college student, calling off the search...birds...sang...life...went...on...

Amanda, meanwhile, struggled. Not knowing about the difficulties with newborn vampire armies the Cullens were having, she was jealous of their experience and rich hunting opportunities.

"They get to be decades old, centuries! They live in a small town, very few people, and plenty of large animals with pints and pints..." she trailed off. "I bet none of them has ever eaten rat." she muttered.

Amanda sighed impatiently. Why couldn't she just get some self control? Why did she have to be a vampire anyways? She dwelt on the subject for several hours, moody and angry, eating rats like candy. They were about as filling as a noodle of Ramen apiece. She had to eat the whole pack to feel any better. But still... She felt this gnawing hunger at the back of her throat... This infernal, sinful desire...

She was forcibly jerked out of her reverie by a familiar smell.

Familiar?

She had smelled it before, numerous times, but never like this.

Not blood. Not anything...Human.

Venom.

One of her own kind.

A freaking vampire.

Strange territorial instincts took over her mind. She growled, low in her throat. On top of all this, another vampire? As the filthy creature turned the corner, Amanda stopped. A hobo? A bloodsucking hobo? Her humanity slipped away from her.

The hobo was on her territory. She bared her teeth, though her fangs were not quite exposed. Her human disguise that she normally kept up completely vanished. She was fully vamped out. The hobo snarled, ready for the fight. Although his head was covered, as was the rest of his body in a mass of rags. He was decades old; she would not be the only other vampire he had encountered. He knew what to expect from those of his kind. But, Amanda thought gleefully, I'm betting he's never seen the likes of me. She took a flying leap at him, morphing her body and clothing to match his midair. The vampire froze for the space of half a second, but in that half a second Amanda had her advantage.

She made a slash at his throat, catching where his jugular would have once pumped life-giving blood to his heart. Clear liquid tinged with pink dripped out of the wound. A result of the action was that his patchwork hood fell down, exposing the vampire's face.

Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. She had expected more age, wrinkles, not this... Apollo. A golden haired youth. But at the thought of him in wrinkles, there they were. His face sagged, drooped.

Did I do that? Amanda thought.

He clutched at it wildly, growling and pawing at her while trying to reverse this sudden deformity. She made some more slashes, taking advantage of his momentary distraction. It didn't take him long to forget about his face- self preservation was key.

But then... a smell.

Not venom. Something familiar, something that had plagued her for her whole existence as a vampire, something that was suddenly...much...closer...

Blood. And it was drawing nearer. She grew panicked. A human, walking in on a major vamp fight? When their reason was at their lowest? When there was no denying what she was?

It was as if adrenaline was coursing through her veins again, and she imagined the sensation of a thudding pulse. She felt alive. She growled, renewed in strength, in motivation. This was her life's work- protecting humans.

She tore at his body, shredding limbs with ease. When she had decapitated her opponent, she fumbled around in her pockets for some matches. She lit the whole pack and dropped it onto the remains, writhing and twisting in the muck. They caught flame and Amanda dashed away from the scene. She crashed headlong into the human, who was immediately knocked unconscious. Amanda caught him before he fell to the ground, setting him down gently. She was all too aware of the trickle of blood running down his forehead. She shut off all her breathing so as to not be tempted even further. She struggled to tame her wish to kill, to suck out every drop of blood from this already injured human body. It was so...hard...he was so...close...

She bent over his head, and licked the streak of blood off of his face. Delicious. Her fangs were fully extended, and she didn't need a mirror to know that her eyes were burning like coals. She tried to think of the human as a person, with thoughts and feelings and a life. She examined the body more closely.

It was a boy, and he was about her age- maybe a little older? Tall, brown wavy hair. Looking through his wallet, she found that his name was David, and he lived in the apartment complex across the street from where she used to live. She examined his head and, even though she was no Carlisle, she couldn't find any signs of serious head trauma. She brushed a bloody cowlick away from his face, and ran to fetch the water bottles. She poured one over his hair, making sure that she moved gently. She tried not to wake him up- what would happen if he did?

She wished that she could talk to him, ask him why he was in the sewers, make sure that he was safe, that she hadn't killed him, that he hadn't...seen anything.

Amanda knew that this was impossible. Her eyes would be red, fangs out, and she had questionable self control. Every moment that he was in there was another moment closer to her resolve snapping. How would a human taste compared to rats? She knew what she had to do.

She had to get him home.

Looking at him, at his sweet lovely face bleeding on the ground, something inside of her craved his safety. There was something almost...familiar about him...David...She mused. I know that name from somewhere.

There was time for that later. She picked up the body carefully, holding him to her as you would a baby. She pushed back a pothole cover and climbed the ladder up to the surface, becoming a short curly haired redhead with freckles. She adjusted her grip on David so that she was carrying him bridal style, and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. It was especially difficult because he was unconscious.

She remembered...wrinkles.

Could she manipulate the looks of others as well as herself?

It was a staggering thought.  
Amanda looked at his bruised face. His forehead had started bleeding again, though not as thickly as before. He looked like crap. She imagined what she supposed he looked like normally, when he wasn't crashing into vampires in the sewers. As she pictured it, his head lifted up, the blood looked only like sweat, and his cheeks flushed with color. His eyes opened, and the corners of his mouth turned upward- as if they shared a secret joke.

Amanda was slightly spooked. "This is the freakiest thing I have ever seen." She looked down at him, at his quiet, staring form.

She made him blink, and the action made her head hurt. Ow. It seems that it was a bit much to hold together so many pieces at once. She relaxed the effect on her skin, making it just human enough not to sparkle. That was okay. The Irish were a pale people. So were vampires.

She was distracted for a moment wondering just how pale an Irish vampire would be, and what the crap a black vampire would look like. She never broke from her part, however. She was a human, David was conscious, and they were a cutesy schmoostsy little couple. She giggled at him. He smiled wider back, winking. She wasn't sure why she had added the wink, and was worried that someone would notice that it was completely weird and creepy.

Body language constitutes 80 of all communication, or so Will Smith says in Hitch.

It seemed to go unnoticed, this odd wink. People were rolling their eyes in faint disgust at the PDI of the young...couple. That was what they thought. Amanda walked leisurely down the street, making sure that her chest rose and fell, even though she couldn't trust herself to breath. She decided to take the illusion one step further when she was in front of the apartment building. People had to know that they might be unconventional, but...She kissed his mouth lightly. The skin was warm. It brought an almost alive feeling to her face. The doorman didn't even ask David a thing- just opened the door. "You have a nice day." He called after the two.

Once inside, Amanda was all business. She had no idea which room was his. She surreptitiously sniffed David's hair- drinking in his scent. So delicious- which led her to wonder- When is he going to wake up? I mean, Fr' serious- isn't it going to be a bit hard to explain? "Oh, you passed out in the FREAKING SEWER, where I just HAPPENED to be, but no prob! I rifled through your wallet after knocking you unconscious, and carried your limp body back home."

But he seemed pretty well knocked out.

She smelled the building, searching for traces of his scent. She got a confused mix of smells from all over the building, and she realized that she would have to do it the old school way.

She smelled every door on every floor until she reached a room on the third floor that was swimming in Eau de David.

But she couldn't be sure- not with the blinding headache she had. She let go of David's enchantment, glamour, disguise... (She needed a new word for that.) and his head flopped downward, eyes closing and face draining of color. Blood trickled down the side of his face. She inhaled deeply. Yes- this was his apartment. She felt a flood of relief as she found the key in his left side pocket looped onto a keychain. That will save me the trouble of breaking in, at least. She thought with some relief. She opened the door.

The room was messy, but the bed was mostly clear of clothing.

He was starting to stir. She laid him on the bed slowly, for a vampire. She didn't want to snap his neck after the considerable effort she'd taken to get him home safely. She took one last look at his room before leaving. He just seemed so...familiar. She shut the door and left the injured human in peace.

The lock...clicked...A minute...passed...David...Stirred.

Gasping, he jerked himself upright on the bed. He looked around in mixed confusion and worry. He patted his clothes until he found it. There, in his right side pocket. He breathed a sigh of relief.

He felt...something. On his lips. He brushed them with his fingertips, feeling the unnatural coolness that remained from her kiss. He felt that he had missed something, something he should have known.

But no matter. What had happened to him in the sewer? He was just doing his job, when out of nowhere came...

Amanda looked at a clock outside. How long had it been since she had become a vampire?

Eight months. She smiled, although her smile didn't expose a single tooth. How long had it taken Carlisle to gain his perfect self control? She sighed, and retreated back into her cave, her pit of darkness. Back where she belonged, with her rats, mutant cats, and filth.

They were all sort of similar- all of them were fairly crappy, and no one wanted them around.

Life is wonderful, She thought as she ripped the head off of a rat with her teeth.

A/N: Amanda has discovered a new level to her power- the power to alter what others look like. It doesn't work as well on others as on her, but it does work. And the Cullens will come back into the story sometime! Don't worry! The reason they're gone is quite simple- the story is currently post Eclipse. I have no idea what's going on with them, and I'm not going to speculate. Bella could be married, could be a vampire, could be captured by the Volturi or worse. I'm not going to write something that is going to be completely untrue.

I am writing a vampire book of my own- not Twilight legend- the vampire I'm talking about wakes up un-dead in his coffin after being "killed" by a rogue a few days previously, and must learn how to deal with the undercover vampire (homeschooling) community (mostly, they steal from the hospital, but have no real issue taking a bite of a human now and then) he never knew existed in his town while avoiding letting any humans see him- his efforts don't quite work, and the new girl in town is able to figure out his secret for herself just by seeing him too many times accidentally and a bunch of other stuff. In the end of course, they have to fall in love. I have most of it mapped out- I just need a title. I can't think of a thing. If you have any ideas, that would be beyond wonderful. I wonder if I'll get an award for the longest author's note ever.


	5. Jealous inferior

Prey: Jealous inferior

A/N: I have been very busy lately, but I found a bit of free time to write this! Hopefully most concerns will be addressed. I'm going on vacation soon, so I'm going to try to get some really good chapters out.

Disclaimer: I own no rights to Twilight or any related characters, events, anything. Anyone who thinks that I'm trying to make a profit from this should seriously evaluate the setup of this website and try to determine if there is any way to do so.

Amanda was having an internal battle with herself.

She almost preferred the bloodsucking hobo to these conversations with herself. Violence, simple violence, with it's good sides and bad sides and simple solutions, such was much better than what she had to deal with when thought warred against thought, when her own ideals and desires turned against her, when all vestiges of sanity left her raving in the sewers, talking to the world in general and nobody in particular.

"You can leave the sewer! It's obvious. You just went out, carrying an injured human no less, a human who had blood dripping down his forehead."

"I licked his forehead! Does that scream "self control" to you? And it was a special situation. I could barely hold it together- All of those humans, so close. I was dying for a feast of necks, of blood that was sweet and clean and mine for the taking. I nearly broke down."

"You kept smiling, your fangs weren't there, and you won't ever need to encounter the same situation. When will you need to be holding bloody humans?"

"The more I'm out there, the greater the risk of slipping."

"You get used to it. Carlisle got used to it- he's a doctor."

"He's four hundred, give or take a couple decades. Years and years and years of practice. I've had, what, eight or so months? Clearly, I am not ready for the world."

"You're going crazy down here. No one to talk to, nothing to eat but rats... You need to get to a forest or something, and the sewer system will only get you so far. Pipes end somewhere."

"Maybe, but not now. I'm not ready. Why can't you see?"

"You're just fine up there. You're just chock full of all these expectations of the perfect vampire- you need to be patient. That stuff takes time. You're going mad down here, and you know it."

"I'm not crazy!"

"Look at the sludge- Who's the one yelling at a dead rat?"

She had a point there. Amanda grimaced. "Touche."

She sighed, setting down the rodent corpse she'd been clutching during the course of her conversation. "What can I do?" She muttered to herself rhetorically. Less rhetorically, her mind came up with an answer. "You can go out."

"Out?"

"Don't you even feign ignorance. Come up with a story of some kind- a kidnapping, those are always popular. You were sold to be a sex slave when you were out on that run. You managed to escape, however,"

"I can't do that! The media! Did you ever consider the media? They'll swarm to me, helpless humans. They will make me see doctors, which is a no. They'll want to interview my parents, who are dead. They're going to try to do a thousand things that can never work, not like this! I have to stay dead."

"So...You're a hobo."

Amanda winced, recalling the disheveled appearance of her opponent. "Yeah, a hobo. It's the best I can do without a computer for fabrication."

"You'll need to steal one post haste!"

"Agreed."

This is exactly the point where Amanda realized that she needed to leave. Bad.

She was having a perfectly sane, rational, reasonable discussion with herself regarding whether she should turn her vampire-self into the police and say she was a sex slave.

Living alone was taking it's toll on her.

Pretty soon, she'd be painting red handprints on volleyballs and naming them Wilson.

There was no hesitation. No reason. She saw that she simply couldn't go on the way she was.

Amanda Post left the sewers. The street was nearly empty- it was the middle of the night, and it was a long ways away from the inner-city squalor where she'd first been bitten. She was a lot closer to the upstate region, where various well-to-do residents were tucked in their beds, except for the few that were holding parties, and getting completely crunk.

Amanda took a deep breath of the air. It was full of its pungencies, and the ever-present smell of blood. But it was infinitely better than the stale, rancid air of the tunnels, and she wondered how exactly it had taken so long for her to leave. She was absently strolling toward the house of a sleeping family, and as she realized this she altered her course so as to avoid a bloodbath. Other than that, the night went without incident. She found a bag of clothes on someone's porch, sitting in a box marked with a sharpied label indicating that this haul was meant for the shelves of Goodwill. Knowing that her presence in society was nothing deserving goodwill, she felt the slightest bit guilty taking the clothes that would have otherwise helped a girl in need. But, she reasoned, better their clothes than their blood.

She wound back to town, where the bustle of cars and lights continued interminably. But in Central Park, there was a bench by a tree, and this was quiet. The clouds, hazy and indistinct, only partially shrouded the sky, and Amanda spent the night watching the stars.

A/N: Please review! I often experiment with my writing style while writing this, so any feedback could really shape me as an author!


	6. Jubilation and Regret

Prey: Jubilation and Regret

A/N: There was a bit of confusion with the last chapter and clothes changing. Yes, Amanda can alter the appearance of her clothes, but (And I'm sorry if I forgot to include this in any explanations) not the smell of the sewer. After a while, the fibers of your clothes absorb the smell, no matter how clean you keep them. It's also the same way with general wear and tear- she may have mad skills, but appearance changing cannot strengthen the fibers of the material. Besides, it takes a lot more concentration to change clothes than her appearance, and she's not fully comfortable with her powers yet. You get better with time at whatever supernatural gift you have. I'm sorry if it's been a while since posting- I've had no internet access. And, just to clear up concerns of the nitpickers, Amanda isn't forgetting her human life because, like Rosalie, she;s holding onto it with all ten fingers.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer concentrates her efforts on producing addictive supernatural romances, not silly fanfiction that requires lengthy author's notes.

Amanda was sleeping.

Not really, but when you sit on a park bench, not really doing anything for a whole night, things look suspicious.

She was trying to pull off the look of, "Young artist needing inspiration turns to the closest thing to nature there is in the city and has just been sleeping on a park bench for this very reason." She had a mop of shaggy black curls that attested to this very fact. Young artists always seemed to have shaggy mops of hair. It was almost a contradiction for an artist to be a clean-shave, well adjusted person.

Amanda was peaceful. Not many people went into the park at four AM, so she was relatively undisturbed. However, good things don't last, and at 5:56, Amanda realized that her luck may have changed.

She smelled blood. She was about to stop breathing when she noticed something. It wasn't human blood. Sitting up, she looked in the direction of the smell, and saw a deer. It was pretty, graceful and lithe in its movement. It looked absolutely delicious, Amanda noted. Certainly not to the degree of a human neck, but this time she didn't have to bear the revulsion in killing a human being. She didn't really think- she was suddenly in the forest, mouth firmly clamped on the neck. A rush of sweetness filled her body- she hadn't known blood could taste so good.

"This is what comes from an all-rat diet. Anything- even human food- would taste good in comparison." Amanda looked at her shirt, and cursed herself for her haste. There was blood spattered all along the front, and it was dripping down her chin. She'd never had to bother before- rats only have enough blood for a single mouthful, and the mess was minimal. Now, there was a real jugular to rip open, big veins that pumped excessive amounts of blood through the system.

She looked at the deer, which was clawed and mangled at the neck.

"Being a newborn sucks." She growled. Amanda cursed herself again, this time for not asking the Cullens about survival as a newborn. But then again, she never thought she would need it. She thought she could maybe bury the body, and no one would see. Once again, Amanda was faced with the frustrations of newbornness.

She had only meant to tug at the roots of the tree, to hide the spot of burial, not uproot it violently, swinging it into other trees nearby.

In an effort not to be seen, she dug a hole as fast as she could, which created a dusty, muddy mess that coated her hair and clothes, already blood soaked. She would need to get some new ones out of the pack until she could wash these out.

Amanda heaved the body into the hole, covering it up as best she could. She tried to replant the tree, but her efforts were in vain. She eventually resorted to laying the tree on top of the hole, even though it looked a bit suspicious.

For a moment, she wished that she was back in her sewers, her nice, smelly, predictable sewers. There, her only challenges were finding enough rats and avoiding the occasional worker or policeman, or, in rare cases, a David. Sidetracked for a moment, she wondered just how and why he had gotten there.

As if summoned by her memory, the familiar scent of a certain mysterious person drifted over. David? She thought. With alarm, she heard his footsteps. How could he have gotten so close? She was glad that she had just eaten- her self control was better than it had ever been. She was able to dash away from the scene without so much as a backward glance at what other vampires might have considered prospective prey. She made sure to visually efface traces of blood and dirt from her body-

She stopped once she had reached her former apartment. Why was this David person always around?

Well, she thought grumblingly, not always. But even from the two times she had been near, their proximity never seemed much of a coincidence. She thought quickly of her options. Her paranoid hunter mind- left over from her human days- dredged up the unlikely possibility that he was looking for her.

How ludicrous, Amanda thought. Still, this didn't stop her from proceeding as if this were the case.

She changed her appearance behind a trashcan, going bubblegum blonde, a golden ringlet ditzy girl. Utterly unsuspicious. She procured a cell phone from the bin, and after a quick rub on her jeans to get rid of the filth, talked to someone named "Brittney" animatedly about Brad, who was just a Hotty McHott Hott from Hottsville. She would've thrown up, or started laughing if her life wasn't on the line.

She darted into her apartment, where she darted into the lobby bathroom, becoming her lawyer.

The Lawyer was a part she had played many times as a human. Really, it was just "Amanda Post" dressed in a sharp suit, with glasses and a short wig to give her a bob. She pulled out some sunglasses from her bag- she had no actual glasses, and she hoped that they would do. She put on her Authoity voice, and told the manager of the lobby that because Anna Gregorson was now presumed dead. She was the lawyer, Mrs. Fineman, and she was to divide the Gregorson estate among those listed in her will.

No one questioned her, and she was handed a room key for the penthouse suite. Marching herself into the private elevator, Amanda was relieved to recall the absence of security cameras or windows. She let go of every manipulation on her appearance, and let herself be a vampire Amanda. She sat down on the couch of the apartment, exhausted from the numerous changes. It took quite a lot out of her to do so many things at once. She had a massive headache, and wished there was a pill that would work on vampires for such things.

She discarded her clothes in a stainless steel trashcan, burning them so as to destroy evidence. The last thing she needed was for the police to find a freshly bloodied shirt in a supposedly untouched apartment. She changed into something fresh, that was covered in the scent of Human Amanda. She couldn't shake this feeling that David was looking for her. She noticed a rats nest in the corner of the room. Of course. When the scary vampire hunter is a vampire in the sewers, trying to regain some last bit of humanity (away), the mice will play. Thankfully however, she knew some great pest removal techniques. In a few short minutes, the only rats in the apartment were burning bloodless corpses in a trashcan. She ran a hand through her hair, frustrated at her general condition. She was a vampire, and acting on the assumption that David was following her, with an uncanny way of following her, there was not much that she could do.

Then, Amanda had a wild thought. She was good at those. "If David is following me, (For whatever reason) perhaps he knows that I am a vampire." This was a very disturbing thought, but she had a possible solution. "Perhaps, he has some electronic tool that scans body temperature. It would make sense that a heatless mass the size and shape of a human would appear very suspicious. Perhaps..." She concentrated very hard on raising her body temperature. This would be the most difficult illusion yet. She felt her temperature slowly rising until she was roughly room temperature. She couldn't force herself any higher. She stood completely still, hoping that if she registered on whatever radar he had, she would seem to be a statue. She must have stood that way for hours before she finally relaxed. She wasn't out of the woods yet- but she couldn't quite leave. There were vampiric scum to eradicate, after all.

...

"Another?"

David winced. He knew that he was a disappointment. But it seemed like victory was constantly slipping through his fingers. "I don't know what's up with me lately." he mumbled. David couldn't meet the eyes of the older man, who was shaking a photograph at him. "You still don't have it, do you?" The man shook his head incredulously. "You, of all people." David was not listening. He was simply staring at the photo. Nothing was said by either party for a while. David finally spoke. "It isn't normal. They don't- they're not supposed to respond like this!"

...

Amanda was soaking in a hot bath, trying a more archaic method for evading capture. She simply didn't have the energy She rubbed some coconut shampoo into her hair, wondering idly whether it would be a good way to cloak her scent. She was being paranoid, she knew that. Why should she, from two meetings, decide that she was in danger from a mere human?

Because, a voice in the back of her head told her, It's this kind of thinking that's kept you alive for eighteen years. Remember Edward Cullen? He DID read minds. Trust your instincts.

Amanda shivered slightly, despite immortality and hot baths. After so many years of being a hunter, it was a disquieting feeling to be the prey.

A/N: The best thing you can do for me is to review!


	7. A Firm Course of Action

Prey: A Firm Course of Action

A/N: I'm in Las Vegas right now, and it's like a billion degrees, so all I have to do is write. And so, write I do!

Disclaimer: I'm not the author, I have no rights to any book, and I'm not trying to make a profit.

No one knows how to act, sometimes. Situations beyond our control can scare us, make us question the course of action we are currently upon. Tom, still mourning, was finding himself staggered by a world of possibilities and overwhelmed by his sudden change in situation. David was facing a livid uncle, yelling at him for several reasons, and he had no idea what to do to rectify the situation. Amanda was sitting in a rapidly cooling bathtub, wondering what her next move would be, and if there even was a next move that she could make.

People are confused, at times. It is understandable. What do they do? They move on, in the only way they know how. Tom closed his eyes, and clicked the mouse. David made a promise to himself, and became resolved.

Amanda got out of the tub, a new determination in her eyes. She would do as she'd always done, which was to go about business. If anyone got in her way, she would...well, she would think about that when she got there. David could pose a problem, with his showing up at inopportune moments, but she was sure that she could evade him. And if she couldn't manage... Well, wasn't it possible to convince humans that vampires weren't always horrible? It worked for Edward Cullen. Perhaps she could ally him to her cause. Amanda stopped her train of thought, sending it off the tracks in a screech of sparks and flame, with all the coals spilling over the side and the conductor clinging for his life onto the door.

What was she thinking?

There she was, Amanda Post, jumping to conclusions.

Who said that he was following her anyways?

No one.

Was it possible that it could have been complete coincidence for him to be where she was twice? Not more, not less?

Indeed, yes.

Why did she think she think he would be dogging her every step, following her into dingy alleys and darkened places while she did her work?

Extreme paranoia.

She was perfectly safe in the city, walking around town, killing vampires and sneaking off to the sewers, park, or wherever to hunt. It was still odd for Amanda to think of hunting in a way that didn't refer to rednecks with shotguns and deerheads on the wall. But it also sounded extremely appealing.

Not for the first time, Amanda thought about how wonderful it would be to go into a real forest, filled with bears and stags and moose and...

She hit herself on the head. Now she was hungry, and therefore good for nothing. "Great. I can't go outside or kill vampires or anything. Freaking bloodlust will consume me..." She trailed off, frustrated by her weakness.

Sighing, Amanda sat down on the bed. "How easily stopped I am," she mused. "As a human, I was more of a...force. No one could really stop me." she smiled, wondering slightly at her extreme ability to maneuver situations. But then her mind returned to the present. "Now, I am bound by thirst, and the always-present fear of discovery. I'm not doing any good- I'm" her brow furrowed. "I'm hiding! I'm a quivering little vampire in an abandoned apartment, worrying if a human is following me." She stood up, pulling on a jacket and some socks and shoes.

She had vampires to kill, and she was not going to let any human boy sway her in the course of her quest.

Amanda resumed her Lawyer look, and proceeded down the stairs of the building.

Amanda was, once more, confident. She didn't need knives, she didn't need to worry about anyone else. She was herself, and she was a vampire hunter.

A small smile graced her lips as she made her way out of the lobby.

Did she have a clue what she was doing?

Absolutely not.

But she would just have to find out.

A/N: Ah, Amanda. If only you knew. My main thought when I was making this chapter was simply, "Get on with it! You started writing about Amanda last December!" This was a bit of a transitory chapter- you don't see much going on. I would appreciate any feedback- like always, my style is affected by my mood, and isn't necessarily consistent. But then again, neither is the world, or any one life- I suppose it is actually an accurate thing. Still, I would be happy to hear how absolutely awful this was.


	8. Believability

Prey: Believability

A/N: I am really quite thrilled to be writing out this chapter. I've had this one in my head for months and months. I changed the beginning though, because the original version wasn't very interesting.

Disclaimer: My name is not Stephenie Meyer, and I did not write Twilight.

Amanda had been incident free for a week now. No scent of a certain mysterious person on her trail, and no need to worry either. Work was slow, but it always was. She would catch the scent of a vampire, but it would never come to a confrontation- her potential prey would slink off, perhaps in search for territory not occupied. There were a couple of vampires in the general area at the moment- she couldn't really be sure though, not being familiar with the scents.

But one day, she caught something.

It was a bit different than the vampires she'd smelled before. It reeked of excitement, of the thrill that comes from cornering a victim, getting ready for the kill. Amanda was instantly transported back to her own hunting days, and made for the area without hesitation.

There he was, the vampire.

Not quite a newborn, but not very old, just the same.

In all of his dark demonic glory, he toyed with a young woman, leaning flirtatiously against the wall. Amanda wasn't really quite sure what to do for a moment, but then it came to her. It was brilliant. As she drew closer to where he stood Amanda felt the vampire stiffen. Amanda came onto the scene outraged. "What are you doing here? You said you were at work. How do you-" She paused, then focused a loathing stare on the girl. The vampire beside her had his teeth nearly bared, cursing Amanda for stealing his meal under his breath. "Who is she?" Amanda whispered frostily.  
The girl, who had been worried from the time Amanda had shown up, was now livid. "You have a girlfriend?" She choked out at last. Amanda held up her left arm, allowing the space on her finger where a wedding ring might sit to sparkle vampirically. It was a truly impressive effect, despite the slight chill in the air, there were beams of sunlight that hit the finger perfectly. The girl hit the vampire with her purse and stalked off. The vampire made no attempt to follow. He was ready for a duel.

There were no bystanders, no innocent witnesses to their actions.

Amanda narrowed her eyes infinitesimally, subtly shifting her center of mass in preparation.

The vampire, noting her strangeness of behavior, had just one question before they started. "Why?" He asked, genuinely puzzled at why she would attack him and let a hot meal walk away. Amanda smiled, letting her hair draw out long and blond, her features drawing out to become elflike. "Because," she said in a high trilling voice, "there were two possible prey in the area, and I decided to eliminate the one who had no business existing."

She said this in a piercing way, but quietly. She circled around the area, her hair swinging around in a smooth circle. The other vampire mirrored her movements, teeth bared, eyes the flat black of hunger and rage. She cocked her head to the side comically.

"Has it occurred to you that there may be another way to live?" She made a quick swipe at his arm, gashing it magnificently. He snarled, barreling towards her. At the last moment, she swerved, and he was thrown off. "Another way to get by? A way that would keep safe those you love, and others?" He jumped forward, biting at her arm. To her shock and outrage, his teeth made contact with her skin, puncturing it. Small amounts of venom swelled out of the wound, and she bit back the desire to simply rage forward, clawing madly at his body. She must take the educated course of action. She was a seasoned fighter. She fell into a familiar pattern, letting instinct guide her. "No, I suppose not." She finished with her speech, and fell onto the other vampire at the first moment of weakness. She tore at his body, utilizing both her teeth and nails. In less than a minute, the body was decimated, and she had matches at the ready. By the time she had lit the first match, though, she smelled it. She was suddenly, painfully aware of a knife on the back of her neck. She turned around slowly to face David, who looked surprised if nothing else.

"What are you doing?" Amanda asked. "I've just done the world a favor, and this is the thanks I get."

David shifted slightly, not wishing to reveal that he was completely stumped at her behavior. "What?" he replied dumbly. He had been aware of a vampire fight going on. Amanda knew that the best way to react was with complete casualness of action.

"I just did your job for you. It's dead. And burning. Gosh, you should be grateful." David put the blade closer to her neck, trying not to seem too curious. "What do you mean?"

Amanda put her hand to the back of her head slowly, trying to push the blade away. It felt familiar under her fingertips, though she wasn't entirely sure why. "Calm down, David. I'm a vampire hunter. This isn't the first time we've met." David's hand was quivering. "Wh- how do you know my name?" Amanda tried to keep him reasonable. "Your ID was in your wallet, which I had to look in in order to know where to go when you passed out in the sewers. You'll notice that you didn't die then, so I would appreciate it if you'd put the shank down." David paused. He was warring with himself.

Should he?

Why should he trust her?

Why shouldn't he, really?

She hadn't killed him, at least not yet.

He lowered the knife. Amanda looked down at it, and gasped. "Where did you get that?" She said squeakily. "You don't know anyone named Tom Mapple, do you?" David looked confused, and raised the knife again. Amanda quickly snatched it out of his hands. "It looks just the same, I swear." She murmured softly. David looked pale. He knew that she had all the advantage now- she had the strength, opportunity, and motivation to kill, and yet... She did nothing. She was examining the knife with a strange intensity. "Who are you?" He finally asked. The vampire looked up, almost startled. "Oh- how rude. I'm Amanda Post. And-"

David was limp, having fainted clean away. She slapped at his face, and the coldness startled him to standing. "Did you say- Amanda?" He said weakly. Amanda nodded impatiently. "Yes. How did you get a hold of that knife?" David was uncomfortable proceeding without backup. "The knife?" he said slowly, stalling for time to reach his cell phone. Amanda's eyes saw the path of his hand. "I'm hoping you're not calling for your cronies to snipe me or something, because that would just be plain rude." David was shaking his head vigorously. "No. No. You're not Amanda. You look-" Amanda realized that she still had the blond hair and altered face from before.

"Oh. Sorry about that." She allowed herself to go back to normal. She hadn't anticipated his reaction. His face completely flushed of all color, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost. Amanda realized that he might not be completely used to crazy vampire superpowers, and held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. The knife clattered to the pavement, and David picked it up quickly.

"Yes, I change appearance. Let's get over this as quickly as possible." She couldn't ignore the gnawing hunger in her body, the wild yearning to bite someone. "I am Amanda Post, a vampire vampire hunter. You are David, and I really want to know about the origin of that knife. Now. I know you have a billion questions to ask, but I'm getting really hungry and ought to go to the sewer or something like that. You have a million questions, I'm sure, and so do I. But the wanting to rip your throat out? I really ought to take care of that. So! I'll meet you at your apartment in an hour, and we can chat. Sound good? Bye!"

And then she was gone. David stood dumbly in the street, alone. He pulled out his cell.

After dialing the numbers, his call was answered at the first ring.

"Hello? David?"

"It's me."

"Status."

"It's a bit complicated..."

"What? Are you bitten? Did it get away again? What is it?"

"She's out... hunting."

There was no answer. David knew what this meant. It meant, "You had better have some d good explanation."

He answered in a rush. "Well, it was weird, because when I had my knife against her neck she knew my name and all of this other stuff- but she also said that her name was Amanda Post."

There were muffled sounds of scuffling and muttered conversation in the background.

"Are you quite sure about... well, which Amanda Post?"

"She kept asking me about the knife. She also says that she's a vampire hunter."

"Why did you let it go?"

David started to answer, but cut off the words before they escaped.

I trust her?

No. No one would like that answer. Vampires were an unpredictable thing- they could manipulate time and space in a thousand different ways, all the while using pure charm to pull you closer and closer.

David held the phone dumbly in his hand.

He didn't have an answer.

"I- I don't quite know. She caught me off guard- she didn't look at all like Amanda, and then..."

"Are you saying that she-"

"She changed her appearance."

There was a long pause.

"David, what level would you say this vampire was?"

"A seven."

"Seven?"

"Or eight."

David looked at his watch. All of the long, awkward pauses in their conversation added up, and they were running out of time. "She said she's going to meet me back at my apartment in an hour. That was ten minutes ago. Bring everybody."

The man on the phone sipped his coffee wearily. "It's meeting you."

David nodded once, irritated and embarrassed by the whole situation.

"Yes, so I've got to get home and clean things up a bit. It's messy right now, and if I'm going to entertain vampires there, I had better not look like a slob. See you there."

He hung up. Looking up at the sky, vainly attempting to glean answers from it's misty vastness, David sighed, melting into the shadows as he traced back his route home.

Why was it, he thought as the soles of his shoes slapped the pavement, that somehow, for some reason, I find myself believing her?

A/N: By far one of my favorite chapters. But really, tell me what you think!


	9. Dinner Parties are Always Awkward

Prey: Dinner Parties are Always Awkward

A/N: I'm still in Vegas, and I can't wait to get home to Washington! Then I'll actually be able to update! (revision: I am home now. Washington is so much nicer than the hot sprawling city! What is Bella's problem? Phoenix sounds terrible.)

Disclaimer: I have no rights to anything penned by the author Stephenie Meyer, especially Twilight and its affiliated characters. OOH! Did you know that Meyer is writing a ghost story called Summer House?

Amanda was in Central Park.

It was no Goat Rocks, but it would have to do.

You must be protesting by now- "What? The park is a tourist kind of zone! Where could you really stalk the few deer unnoticed in the small amount of woodland?"

Then I tell you this: Vampires tend to be extremely sneaky.

She couldn't ever resist the thrill of the hunt- it was so different than rifling through your cabinets for a granola bar, and much different than killing another vampire.

When your meal is hot and breathing, it adds a whole new level to your concentration- your sense of focus.

When you tear the wrapping off of granola, there is no real thrill of joy and your state of mind is relatively unchanged.

Engaging in open combat, your sense of center is still firmly rooted in yourself, in staying firmly in one piece.

You stay yourself, primarily.

But hunting...

Amanda tracked the deer, and it was as if gravity had shifted. The center of her world was the heartbeat, throbbing so strongly above any other sound in the area. A living, breathing pulse. The sound of blood coursing in veins- this was life, and Amanda needed desperately, hopelessly, to reach it.

Every cracking twig...

The whip of air in the trees...

All of this was factored into her plans, her plans for getting blood.

Oh, life sustaining succor!

Amanda found it hard to hate what she was in times like these, as much as she regretted what she had to do later, the pure ecstasy from hunting rivaled greatly the pain of losing her human self.

Then, when it was the high stakes metal round, when any sudden movement could spark a fleeing dash, the vampire sprang. The death was as quick as it was messy, and Amanda tore into the throat of the animal with wild abandon, sinking her fangs deep into the flesh of the neck, chewing the muscles slightly. The animal jerked under her for a moment, letting out a strangled scream of pain before fading out from the loss of blood.

Amanda was riding high. Blood, coursing through her veins hot and sweet, that warmed her from her very center-

blood.

She found herself licking the corpse of the mangled deer for any last drops of the red stuff, and was able to break out of her hunger-crazed state long enough to realize that she was completely disgusting.

Examining her bloodied shirt, Amanda heaved a sigh. "Why do I keep ruining all of my clothes?" She muttered to no one in particular.

She kicked a rock a little carelessly, and it became lodged in one of the surrounding trees, spreading a shower of wood pulp.

She knew why.

"Newborn...Newborn..." She muttered as she wiped the blood off of her face. "Stupid newborn enthusiasm." Amanda buried the body of the deer unhappily. It wasn't enough blood, she knew. She was ravenous still, though her inner beast was a bit quieter. She looked at the face of a clock in the distance. Forty minutes, she mused. In that time she could perhaps have another largish deer, and some small woodland animals on her way home. Then she would change into something less blood-soaked. It would not do for her to look so... uncivilized. No, a clean respectable vampire is what the people want.

Well, they would rather have no vampire, but you can't have everything.

After finishing up with her hunting, the details of which Amanda wished she could forget, she found herself back in her apartment, looking for something to wear.

She found it surprisingly hard to settle on a look. She didn't know how exactly to look, and she grew flustered in front of the mirror. Red hair in a spiky bob. Blonde hair in ringlets. Wavy brunette curtains. Black hair in a bun on her head. A short, sweet body with round cheeks and pink lips. A long, strong face set upon a tall frame, with long tapering fingers. She pounded the glass with her fist, and it exploded across the room. Why was this so difficult? She eventually went with the redhead look from when she had taken him back to the apartment. It was pretty safe, as far as looks went. Short isn't very imposing...unless it's Alice Cullen. She smiled as she sprinted across the street to David's.

It was odd.

You'd think she would worry that he was setting up a trap, or that she was way in over her head.

Perhaps she could be speculating about the knives.

But as she got into the elevator and pressed the button for his floor, Amanda's only thought was worrying that her hair was a bit messy.

Why did she bother?

It looked fine!

She knew that.

Nevertheless, she continued fussing all the way to his door. She knocked on the door timidly, wondering fleetingly what was waiting for.

* * *

A whole team was assembled at all possible entrances and exits of the apartment, all armed and ready for action. A level eight vampire was serious business.

What were they in for? Most vampires were at the level 2-3, and there were several 4's around, as well as the occasional 5 or 6. But 8! 8!! At this point it felt like five exclamation points were needed.

The scanners picked it up about twenty minutes earlier, and all were confused. It was...stalling. Across the street, the vampire was barely moving, except for the occasional pacing motion.

A soft knock on the door raised every hair on their necks, and David slowly opened the door. Amanda waved, stepping into the room. The room was full of blood, but at the moment she was more concerned with the fact that there wasn't a knife against her throat at the moment, but a smiling face. "Hello David and... friends? Associates?" David chuckled, barely audible to human ears.

The short, mild, utterly human looking girl wasn't quite what any of them expected. But then again, with vampires, what can you really expect? David seemed to be relaxing his guard a tad bit, which the man in the corner was concerned about. He should know, of all people...

David bit back his smile, knowing full well that his attitude of niceness was not shared or even tolerated by the rest of the group. Amanda seemed to know this, and slowly walked into the center of the scattered people, willfully surrendering herself. "Hello. My name is Amanda Post. No, this is not what I look like." She figured that everyone had been debriefed or something, so they knew what was up. Still, she made no attempt yet to change her look. At this early stage in the game it would look threatening.

At the mention of the name "Post", every scent in the room grew angry or confused. She shook her head in irritation, trying to clear her mind of blood and focus on the problem at hand. Her brow furrowed. "Everyone's surprised. Explain." David looked over at the man in the corner, who stepped into the light. The "boss", as it were, of the whole operation. David called him over. "Howard." he called softly, barely turning his head. He couldn't face talking about it at the moment. Not with her there. Howard strode over to where she stood angrily, and it was beyond obvious that he didn't believe anything of what she was saying. "Valerie and Alan Post started the Night Watch, an organization strictly meant to get rid of your filth. They and their daughter Amanda were killed years ago."

Amanda's mouth dropped open. "You mean- ah..." she scrambled for words, the questions in her head battling for dominance. "You must have known them. Wait, you're Howard! That Howard!" She could barely restrain herself. She was remembering so many good times the four of them had had- back when she still had parents, back before she knew about vampires."Dad's brother." she stepped forward as if to give him a hug.

As if they had been signaled, the group of Watchmen (ok, some of them WERE women, but oh well...) tightened around her. The light in her eyes dimmed as she realized that former bloodlines aside, these people would not accept her as family. They didn't even accept that she was Amanda. She saw this with painful clarity. She tried to disregard the hurt and rejection she felt and shrank back. She tried to look cavalier. "Some family reunion."

David was about to make some sort of remark when Amanda shrugged, holding out her wrists to be cuffed. "Not like I wasn't expecting it. But hold on, I will be much more comfortable looking normal." She proceeded to become, as you say, Vamped out. She was much taller this way, and some of the newer recruits were shocked into a dead faint. Amanda made an impatient gesture with her fingers. "Come on, slap on those handcuffs. Lets get going to your secret headquarters or whatever."

Handcuffs were slapped on, and Amanda let herself be led to the waiting van outside. The shackles, she noticed, were not really strong enough to hold her back, but she wouldn't let them know. Information like this may be useful in the future.

No one talked during the ride. Amanda was getting sick of the silence. Nearly a year after turning, she had no one at all with her. She had gotten to the point where she was screaming at rat corpses. And now, no one would talk to her anyways. She sighed, inaudible to human ears. This sucked.

She was thrown into a room with one florescent light bulb dangling above a chair- if you could call it that. This one had so many straps and chains that it looked more like a weapon of torture than furniture. She couldn't resist a snort. "Theatrical much?" She sat into it, fastening some of the straps herself. She looked up at Howard, her uncle, a man always full of smiles and laughter in her experience. He was now coldly disconnected from her. She could only see one reason why that would be so. "It's understandable that you would be suspicious of my true identity. Amanda Post, you say, has been dead for years. No one has seen her since that last chilly day in Oregon, when a dark haired leech slaughtered the lot." She looked him straight on. "I'm willing to answer any and all questions about where I was, who I am, and why I'm a vampire." She tried to keep her voice even.

"Any questions?"

A/N: I liked this chapter a fair bit, but I really want to see some reviews! It could quite possibly suck, and that would do no one any good if I didn't know.


	10. How Much Freaking Proof Do You Need?

Prey: How Much Proof Do You Freaking Need?

A/N: Amanda doesn't have all the answers. Not even close. She has no idea about quite a bit of stuff regarding her parents. Oh, and thanks for all the wonderful reviews for the last chapter (Cough cough two) they were few, but they really made my day. Tuz, this chapter title is for you, and Midnightwalker, I hope that some questions are answered.

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to any books- except maybe a little bit of the book my sister is writing. I contributed quite a lot to that one.

Amanda was stuck in a chair. She was being pelted with questions of all sorts. In any other circumstances these questions would have seemed laughable- not today. Not with so much at stake. If they didn't believe that she was the real deal, there was a very predictable fate in store for her. It involved being hacked to pieces, and burned alive.

Therefore, she was more serious than you would think when answering questions like, "Do you prefer Snickers to Milky Way bars?" She answered "Milky Way" with such gravity that David had to stifle a giggle.

They were starting off slow. No one really wanted to listen to the leech give a long detailed and completely untrue account of what happened that day, so many years ago. Better to catch her in a lie early, as they reasoned. David didn't really share this perspective. He just had to smile at her face, the expressions that briefly flickered across it when she was surprised that they were being so trivial.

Why on earth was he acting this way? It was clear that he had no reason to trust the bloodsucker, but he couldn't help both liking and trusting her. She seemed so...earnest. There was a pane of mirrored glass between the watch and the mini-inquisition scene. David sat closest to the glass, wishing that the endless questions would stop, for her sake, but also impishly wishing that they would go on, that he would be able to get to know better the Amanda he had cursed himself over for so many years..

"Favorite movie."

"Forrest Gump. Well, that and Across the Universe. And Phantom of the Opera."

"Favorite sport."

"None. Sports are disgusting. But, if I had to choose, I do like the winter Olympics."

"Favorite book."

"Well, there's the entire Discworld series, which provides the base for this name, and there's also Harry Potter, and The Stinky Cheese Man (And other Fairly Stupid tales)."

"Best part of going to the state fair."

"Seeing the black and white chickens with Afros. Cruella De Ville chickens, we called them."

"Music."

"Original cast recordings of Les Mis and Phantom, as well as ELO, Queen, The Beatles, The Proclaimers, They Might Be Giants, and I really like Coldplay and Belle and Sebastian now."

"When did you become a vampire?"

Amanda was thrown for a second. This question had not come from Howard, but from David. How had he entered the room without her noticing? It didn't have much to do with her identity, and it was certainly a break from the sort of queries she'd dealt with so far, but she answered it just the same. "About nine or so months ago. I had just barely moved here under the name of Anna Gregorson, ready to investigate this oh-so-mysterious Night Watch I'd found out about. The Internet, of course, had revealing hints everywhere about such a thing, so I was a bit curious. I moved in my stuff to the apartment across the street, and went out on a vampire hunt/jog." Her features twisted up in a cruel smile. "And I guess I didn't have a very good grip on my knives, because in almost no time, I was bitten and bleeding in the streets. And Voila! Instant vampire. Just add venom."

This prompted Howard to start on some of the more serious questions. "Assuming that you're Amanda, how did you survive the attack nine years ago?"

"Mom and dad both had their knives, and they ran over to the vamp, leaving me at the car. I don't think it paid much attention to me. I only ran over when the fight was really dying down, and by that time the leech was already pretty hacked up. There wasn't any real attack to defend myself from at that point-I just had to make sure the bloody creature wouldn't put itself together again. Dad was dying, and he told me to use knives and fire to permanently kill them. I burned it up and went home, packing my bags before the police arrived. The bodies of mom and dad were probably too burned by that point by the vampire fire for many bones to even be recognized- I don't know exactly what happened, but I was dead in the eyes of the law. You'll have to forgive my sketchy memory- it was a time in my life that I'd rather forget."

There was a bit of a pause. No one liked reliving painful moments in their past. But then the ever-flowing tide of questions was back.

"How did you manage to evade discovery by the police?"

"I fabricated an identity with my mad hacker skills."

"Hacker skills?"

"My parents never knew- I don't think."

"You were 11 years old."

"I was pretty smart. And I was ten. Don't even try to trip me up."

"But you say you hunted vampires."

"Revenge, what else? I wanted to continue their legacy."

"Legacy?"

"I assumed that they had been toiling to service their fellow humans for years by ridding the world of vampire scum, correct?"

"Yes..."

"So I took some combat classes and got a-hacking." she paused. "Then I met Tom."

"Tom?"

Amanda realized that there was an opportunity for verification of her story here. "Tom Mapple. I met him years ago in Chicago- as a human vampire hunter. He can verify who I am!" She smiled.

"Does he know you're a vampire?"

Amanda's smile faltered. "No. I let him think I was dead when I went missing. I didn't want him to try to find me or something. For one thing, he could get mugged, and another, I was seriously doubting my self control. I was trying, at that point, to only eat rats, but it is very unappealing."

"Rats?" There was a sound of disgust from David. Amanda frowned. "Well, it's better than people. Now I've graduated to deer. Much more satisfying. Eating people isn't really my style, if you know what I mean." She flexed her fingers. "So, as I was saying, I didn't want Tom to come find me because I worried that he would. I sent him my knives, which is why I can't offer them for proof."

"Where does Tom live?"

Amanda shrugged sadly. "I have no clue. I've been entirely without the internet since I became a vampire. I've been mourning my lack of Wikipedia and Google."

One of the watchpeople had an iPhone, and had done a quick Google search on the name. "Whoa-" She heard him walk into the room. "This Tom Mapple?" he flashed the screen towards her. "Tom Mapple- founder of Mappleware Tech? I thought I recognized the name..." Amanda nodded, bewildered. "What- you're saying Tom is famous? You serious?" Amanda smiled.

Howard told the man to assemble a team to meet with him, and Amanda panicked. "No, no. You can't do that. He's an extremely paranoid person. I really don't want you to give him a heart attack or an aneurysm." there were skeptical looks from across the room. Amanda shook her head. "It's a legitimate worry, trust me, so please? Take me along?"

This wasn't what Howard had been thinking she'd say.

But then again, she could have other manipulative powers. She had proven herself more than capable of doing things to people- it was very possible that she could force him to say about anything. But there was this voice, lurking in the back of his head, and it was dredging up memories of a happier time, a time before his brother and his best friend were killed.

A memory.

_He was sitting in the old armchair, laughing with Alan about old times. He mentioned that he had gotten a new litter of kittens from his cat Fluffy, and did they want any. Amanda's small face- she must have been only six- lit up at the prospect of a pet of her very own, and it dimmed just as fast when her father shook his head, no. She turned a pleading face towards him, full of such sincerity, such vast amount of desire, that it was getting very hard to refuse again. But her father was allergic, they explained. Not too much, but he could get very sick if they had one. Her eyes widened, and she spoke in a frantic whisper to her uncle. "You need to make sure Daddy doesn't go to your house! We need to keep him away from them- he can't get hurt." her father, overhearing, had laughed, as had Howard. Amanda had gotten huffy and confused, but was still mostly worried. "No cats, dad." She instructed him firmly, again._

Howard was startled at the similarity of expression, worry, and just...honesty.

There was something about her, a strange indefinable quality, that caused him to say...

"Yes, we'll take you. But keep your teeth to yourself." Amanda smiled honestly for what felt like the first time in years. She closed her eyes, shaking her head lightly. "You guys are going to love Tom."

* * *

The flight to Chicago had been the worst part of the trip, that was certain. Somehow, There was a watchperson surrounding Amanda on all sides, so there was no hope of her escape.

Not that she was trying to escape, of course,

but it is really annoying to have so many people around you waiting for you to screw up so they can kill you.

David was up in front of her, so she couldn't even have conversation. At her insistence, she was allowed to bring a book with her, to pass the long hours in the sky. It was Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. She listened to Sufjan Stevens on a borrowed iPod- the man with the iPhone didn't have any use for his, at the moment. Amanda liked this one better than the others.

His name was Joshua, and he was one of the more technologically inclined members of the group. While they didn't have anything close to friendship, she was able to make comments about his good taste in music and he wouldn't narrow his eyes suspiciously. She figured that knowing Tom had gotten her into his good books. She closed her eyes and hummed along softly to the music, too quiet for anyone to hear, if they had been listening carefully. She tapped her knee in time with the song- Casimir Pulaski Day, it was called, and Amanda felt a relative peace. It was almost like sleeping.

David turned to face Amanda when it was his turn to be awake and on duty. She had her lavender lids closed over her pale features- to pacify the group, she had elected to only change the color of her eyes and the glittery quality of her skin to fit into the human population. She still looked a bit... off. She never scratched her face, or yawned, or even really moved. She was like a statue, a lovely pale statue. He didn't think she noticed his gaze, so he let it linger. Her lips seemed to be moving, and by straining his ears he could detect strains of music. He had, of course, heard her voice before, but that she could make it even more musical...amazing.

He let his gaze linger longer, and he fell asleep looking at her face.

* * *

The next few hours found the group in a bus, driving to a certain Mansion located at the fringe of the big city. There was a laxed security guard on Amanda- she began to have the bright hope that they were accepting her benign intentions, at least for now. She relaxed against the side of the car, letting her gaze wander towards the semi-familiar landscape. How odd, it seemed, that it had not been long since she had first come to an internet cafe, and had chanced upon meeting the dark haired youth, whose Wed prowess allowed her to progress immensely in her work of destroying monsters, and whose companionship allowed her the small luxury of a friend. It was a real boon that she didn't quite appreciate at the time, meeting him.

And then they were there. A sprawling manor house on a large estate- especially so, for the fact that it was in the big city. There was a distinct Nouveau Riche look about the place that made eyes widen in the cars of passer by, and they would wonder, with awe and respect, "Who lived there?"

Amanda saw cameras nestled all over the property, tracking the progress of the approaching visitors to the front door. "Still as paranoid as ever," Amanda thought wryly. "Just a little bit richer." She knocked on the door, and had to dodge a fast flying knife that almost caught her in the face. "Geez, Tom. What's your problem? It's Amanda, your old business partner." a tall man with thick black hair and a Pink Floyd t-shirt cautiously came to the doorway, holding out his remaining knife. "Amanda?" he choked when he saw her looking fairly...not normal, but not "I'm going to suck every last drop of blood out of your body."

He ran a hand through his messy hair- exhaling nervously. A tear started forming in the corner of his eye and he dropped his arms to his sides. "I've missed you." He choked out. Amanda smiled widely and hugged him as firmly as she could without breaking bones. Surprisingly, his returning hug was strong as well. Not by vampire standards, but for a human it was impressive. "Tom, have you been working out?" She said mock flirtatiously. He shrugged, pretending to be a big tough guy for a moment. Just as soon as it came the charade fell off his face and he pursed his lips. "You let me think you were dead- I didn't know what I was going to do." Amanda dropped her eyes- unable to meet his gaze. "It wasn't safe, Tom. It still isn't..." She gestured towards the door lamely. "I'm still not deemed worthy to walk among mortals. Apparently, I am one of the evil undead masquerading as Amanda, who died nine years ago."

The watch was standing there, looking awkward. They weren't sure exactly what they were interrupting, but they certainly were. Tom looked startled, and then scared again. "Who are they." he muttered into her hair. He had grown taller than her in the past year- easy to do when Amanda had stopped growing. She gave him a look laden with significance. "Night Watch." The significant part of the look was "And they don't know too much- watch out."

David found himself jealous and confused. Were Tom and Amanda...together? They had an obvious connection, that was undeniable. He stepped forward at the same time as Howard, who wished to get down to business. David was going to introduce himself, to make the atmosphere less chilly. Howard looked gruff. "Is this David Mapple?" He started. It was not much of a beginning, but no one had been expecting Tom to take in Amanda with open arms.

Tom looked at Howard in mild bewilderment. How could anyone doubt that Amanda was who she said she was? Although, he conceded, she had been legally dead for years and living as completely different people, Amanda looked a lot like pictures of her mom she had shown him once. He never got a chance to ask Howard, though, because a chair was brought in and they motioned for him to sit in it. He looked at Amanda warily, but she just nodded in weary confirmation, seeming to say, "they won't be satisfied until they get their little games done with."

He sat in the chair, and electrodes were hooked up to his temples, and various other things were hooked up to his neck, wrists, and heart.

It's lie detecting time! We don't trust your word alone! This was the prevailing attitude in the room. Joshua got a picture of Tom with his camera, hooked up to all the gadgetry.

Then the inquisition began, although this was much nicer in nature to the one Amanda had faced.

"Who is this person?"

He swallowed and began. "Amanda Post- she met me in Chicago under the alias Amelia Wainwright, and partnered up with me to rid the world of vampires."

"Why was she doing this?"

"To avenge her parents, who were killed when she was ten."

"Was she human during this time?"

"Yes- I've seen her with cuts on her skin, and she has eaten, drank, slept..." He realized that none of this might be concrete proof, but the sleeping thing seemed to make his case a little stronger. "Did she have any extraordinary talents?" He closed his eyes. "She could scare the living daylights out of me when she would switch identities really fast- she was always good at hiding who she was." He reopened his eyes. "Why?" He looked at Amanda quizzically. In response she made her eyes go back to red and gave herself a blue striped pink updo and black lipstick. "I'm basically Nymphadora Tonks, as far as leeches go." Tom fidgeted with his hands, looking up at the ceiling. "Why am I not surprised?" he muttered. Amanda threw a triumphant grin at her audience of vampire slayers. "Now do you believe me?"

Howard paced, warring with himself as Joshua detatched all the gizmos from Tom's face, muttering words of admiration for his work on the new Mapple code writing software. Howard stopped his pacing after a minute, and the resulting silence was deafening. "Yes." his shoulders slumped as he fully realized the implication of what he said. He bowed his head a fraction, eyes filling with saltwater.

"forgive me."

Amanda smiled and gave him the hug she'd been waiting to give for the past ten years, and even though her embrace was cold and hard, Howard felt a depth of warmth and feeling that he couldn't imagine. "Welcome to the group." he whispered, then smiled ruefully. "That is, if you don't hold any grudges against us for taking you hostage and putting you through all this." Amanda broke free from the embrace. "Well, of course. You guys need someone with insider information. But if you'll excuse me, I really have this craving for blood? I need to go to the sewer or something to have a little lunch."

With that she was out the door. Tom gave David an odd look. "Insider information?" David smiled, feeling for the first time in his life that he could be the intimidator instead of the intimidatee. "You don't want to know." For the moment, when everything was so happy and reconciled, David had to agree. But he still had one worry. "You and Amanda... were you guys ever... together? Dating?" Shocked at the very idea, Tom shook his head emphatically. "No. Nothing close. Today's display was more touchy-feely than we've ever been. Like sister and brother." David didn't realize what a change this brought to David's expression. His smile lifted up at the corners until he was sure his lips would be pulled apart, and his heart felt lighter than air, and it was bursting out of his chest.

But then he remembered.

Oh.

David tried to hide his expression from the room, from the excited people inside it, all glad to have their Amanda back from 'the dead'. David's soul was dashed upon the rocks, like an overconfident lemming, jumping off a cliff only to learn that they cannot fly after all.

How would he ever explain?

How could she ever forgive him? Learn to trust him?...Love him?

A/N: I merged two chapters into one for this- I didn't feel like there was much of a break in between the two, so I decided to let it go seamless. As a result, you get a very long chapter. Review please! I spent a lot of time on this one.


	11. Explanations Are Probably Overdue

Prey: Explanations Are Probably Overdue

A/N: Oh my gosh! Have I seriously not updated since August? Sorry! And BTW, there will be Breaking Dawn spoilers from here on.

Watch out!

Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I'm not making a profit.

Amanda had never felt more alive since becoming a vampire. Never more...normal. Loved. The bewildering array of emotions in her system caused her to be a little sloppy, and she didn't even think about the horrible taste of rodent in her mouth, how the putrid blood dripped all over her clothes. She had people in her life. Uncle Howard. Tom. David. The Watch.

She stopped herself after making the list- now why did David keep filling her head?

Even when she was on the plane, she had caught herself imagining what life would be like if she could live normally, as a human, with a family. In the spot of the husband, there David was. David. She didn't even know him! Not the slightest! Their relations had only ever consisted of the following: She had knocked him unconscious, and dragged him to his apartment. He had tried to kill her a couple times, and then she had come over to his apartment a second time to be handcuffed and questioned. Then there was a plane ride and a meeting with Tom, which didn't involve David at all. Still, every time she smelled him when he got near and she wanted to just rip his throat out and drink from the bloody stump of his neck...

She also wanted to hold him close, and tell him how much she loved him.

Love. Not an emotion she had ever thought would figure much into her life plans. Love was reserved for humans who weren't mixed up in vigilantism. For normal people.

But she kept remembering Bella Swan- Bella and her gloriously improbable relationship with Edward. Edward, who was decades older, who told her that he wanted to drink her blood more than anyones.

If they could do it, why couldn't she? She had gotten better with her control, and he would understand her career of killing vampires. It seemed like a perfect match.

Except... how would he respond? If she were to confess her feelings, tell him that she wanted to be together forever, would he be disgusted? She was a vampire, and it was also his job to clear the earth of her scum. He might tolerate her for her decency, and maintain relations on a friendly level, but would her affliction kill any chance she had with him? Amanda remembered when she had first seen Bella and Edward together. How could she kiss those lips? She had thought. How could she not think about the atrocities brought about by his hand? But it was more probable for Bella, because she had never lost family to the creatures, never wanted to see them die, writhing in flames.

* * *

Amanda thought long and hard for a good length of time, sitting in that sewer. She grabbed another rat, staring at it with a speculative expression. Would the same mouth that loved to tear flesh and guzzle blood be capable of kissing? She wasn't sure. But she had to try. She would make it work. She would leap, and hope for all that was good and pure that she wouldn't fall.

David had his head in his hands, sitting at his hotel room. He was fighting emotions and battling with his thoughts. How?: Why? There was no logic in loving a vampire. She drank blood. She was beautiful. Marvelous. She could kill you with the lightest touch. She was funny, charming. She was the result of his biggest mistake, and would never forgive him if she knew. But how could he not tell her? As he was thinking more dreary thoughts like this, a soft knock came on the door. David tried to bring a normal look to his face before answering, and was shocked by who stood there.

Amanda, looking like Amanda, looked even paler than normal in a black coat. She took a hesitant step in the room. "Hello." She said quietly. "Can I stay here tonight? Tom gets anxious around me anyways, and I don''t want to risk getting flamethrowered in the night." Dumbly, David motioned inside with one of those mumbled "of course, of course. Come on in." She sat on the couch, and David saw that she looked more nervous than he had ever seen her. Generally she was so calm and collected. She wasn't one for displays of weakness. He sat down next to her, and groped for a topic of conversation. "How was... Hunting." he started lamely. Amanda smiled. "You really want to talk about that? It was fine, I guess."

She looked at her hands a moment, and seemed to gather her courage. "I never told you about the vampires I was tracking before I came here. There was a family of seven, and they lived in Washington." David was shocked, as you would expect. "Seven?" She nodded, warming to the story now that she had his interest. "Yeah- I was really nervous about going, and then when I got there, five of them were going to the high school. They didn't kill humans, as I learned when I went to their house to try to kill them. One of them, Edward, had a human girlfriend." David froze. Where did this story lead? Was he hoping too much that she was saying what he thought?

Amanda didn't look him in the eyes. "Her name is Bella, and she knew all about their family. They were engaged when I got there. By now they're probably married." She seemed to think a moment. "So if you ever think there's a coven of eight causing trouble, and their last name is 'Cullen' don't bother them." "I'll make a note of that." David said dizzily. Amanda looked at him, biting her lip. "I haven't been completely honest with you guys. I don't just change my appearances. I also change others. Hold out your hand." He did so, not the least warily. Amanda focused, and his hand became softer, and the nails became pink, like a womans. After a moment, it was back to normal. David turned to face her. "Why are you telling me all this?" he said, heart thumping louder and faster. She hoped that Amanda couldn't hear that. Amanda stared at him full on. "I think I- I might really like you."

David's heart stopped, and he fainted. Amanda grabbed his body, thinking she had killed him. But he regained consciousness in a second. The sudden closeness of their bodies frightened both of them, and Amanda ran to the other side of the room. David stood, unsteadily. "Amanda-" there was pain in his eyes, and fear. Amanda was repulsed by her impulsive confession. "Ugh. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that to you. I-" But she was cut off by David, who ran across the room to her, grabbing her shoulders. "Amanda- I feel too terrible. I've been keeping secrets of my own. It's my fault your parents are dead- and that you're...the way you are." Amanda shook her head firmly. "What?" He turned towards the wall. He didn't want to see her face, the anger that would be there. He started his story.

"You had another uncle- you wouldn't know him- Stewart, your mom's brother. He was a part of the Watch, and he was really good at what he did. But he got surprised by a couple of...them when his guard was down. A week later, no one had heard from him. This was twenty years ago. Then, years later, he was found in Chicago, after he had slaughtered eleven people. They kept him in captivity- it seemed almost like he had forgotten who he was. After a while, he started to recall names. Your parents were already done with him- he wasn't their brother any longer, not as this monster. He tried persuading us that he was changed- that he would find a new path. I foolishly believed him. He said he wanted to see his only neice- your parents had pictures of you all over their office. I let him out a week before he killed your parents. I was sure that he had killed you too- I didn't know you that well, because your parents didn't want you involved in all of this. I was an orphan, brought up by Howard. My parents were killed by a vampire too." Tears were streaming down his face, hot and fast. "I blamed myself for killing your family- I carried a picture in my wallet forever after that- to remind me not to trust anything like that. You must hate me- I ruined your life, and if I hadn't you would still be...alive today."

The information shook Amanda. But she couldn't find it in herself to have any kind of ill feeling. "David," She came over and put a hand on his shoulder. He shuddered at the cold, but didn't remove it. "It was your trust and openness that saved me, when you could have killed me so easily that day in the alley. Besides, I don't know if I would have acted any differently." He turned to her, and Amanda saw that he was taller than her. It seemed as if the removal of the weight off his shoulders had added inches to his height. Amanda risked everything and hugged him to her, pulling his face towards hers.

David had expected silence, bitterness, anything but this. He leaned down to her lips, placing the lightest of kisses on them. She breathed in his face, and he kissed her again. In a swift movement, Amanda had her mouth on his neck, and was about to bite. Her control had slipped. David swallowed, and his breathing became shallow. "Amanda?" he said weakly. The name infiltrated the fog of her mind, and reminded her that she had a choice. She pulled away, sharply. "I almost- oh." David tried to make his breathing a normal pace.

Amanda frowned. "This seems to be what happens in a vampire human relationship. One's always becoming faint and woozy and the other tries to drink the blood." Then she blushed. "maybe we just need to work on that." She picked his hand up, placing it on her cheek. Then she froze. "What about the Watch? Being Amanda Post is probably not enough to make my Uncle, or anyone else for that matter, ok with this." They sat down on the couch.

"What are we going to do?" David groaned.

Amanda stomped a foot on the floor, and the lights flickered. "They'll just be so eager to buy into the whole "vampire human soulmates" thing. Amanda growled. David was startled at her use of the word "soulmates" but was secretly thrilled that she felt the same way about him. "My life sucks. Ignore the pun." David wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. Amanda's eyes closed. The pulsing blood in his veins brought some warmth to her chilly skin. Amanda rested her head against his shoulder, and both wondered about what they were going to do.

* * *

Howard routinely scanned the rooms for vampires, and got a nasty shock when he saw one in David's room. It was probably Amanda, but why wouldn't she have told anyone that she had returned? There were two figures on the screen. Both were sitting down, and alarmingly close. He decided to go in to see what was going on.

He came in to see Amanda, wide eyed and fearful, sitting with David, who seemed to be taking a nap on her shoulder. She whispered in his ear, and he woke up with a start. Howard glared. "Will you explain, please?" David blushed. Amanda spoke for both of them in a quiet voice. "We're pretty much in love." Howard didn't know what to think. In fact, the only thing in his head was a single memory. Howard had gone to work with David, his newly orphaned ward of only seven. When they got to his office, there was a family picture of all the crew, including Amanda. David had looked at the picture intensely. "Who's she?" he said, pointing to Amanda. "That's my niece Amanda." "She's really pretty." David said, admiration in his eyes. "Can I go see her?" Howard had chuckled, and for the next few years it had been an office joke that they would get set up someday and fall in love.

Now it seemed to be happening, right before his eyes.

After a few tense moments, he just shook his head in resignation. "Just make sure to invite me to the wedding." Amanda and David looked at each other, shocked. This was not how they had expected things to go. Amanda laughed shakily and stood up, hugging her uncle. Everything was going too well, Amanda should have seen. David suddenly went pale as a sheet, and collapsed on the floor in a heap.

She slapped at his face, and nothing happened. "Uncle Howard! Call the hospital!"

* * *

In the ER, Amanda fidgeted anxiously with her hair. She had the thought that she should ask the Cullens what to do- they would know a solution. She borrowed a cell phone from Joshua, who was the only other Watchperson she really knew. "Why do you need it?" he asked as she frantically keyed in numbers. "I need some vampire advice." She said grimly.

Bella Cullen had been enjoying peace since the Volturi had decided that Ness wasn't a threat to their world. It was a surprise to her, then, when she got an urgent phone call requesting her family's presence in Chicago. The call was from a girl with a beautiful lilting voice, as strained and anxious as it sounded. She didn't recognize it until she asked her name. "It's Amanda. I'm a vampire, and I need you to help me turn someone else." Bella dropped the phone. Renesmee looked up from her chair at the table next to Jacob. "What is it?" She asked in her clear voice. "A friend needs help." She let Edward into her thoughts, and the Washington coven made preparations for a long trip. How serious must it be, Bella thought, If she was willing to make such a sacrifice?

A/N: Shocking, I know. This chapter went nothing according to plan. Still, review!


	12. Reinforcements

Prey: Reinforcements

A/N: That last chapter was a bit of a doozy, I've got to say. Oh, and still some BD spoilers.

Disclaimer: If I was Stephenie Meyer, I probably would've given her (we all know who I speak of) Carlie as a first name.

Amanda sat by the hospital bed.

It explained everything.

The fainting. The irregular heartbeats. It wasn't just the strength of her kissing. David needed a new heart, and he was running out of time. The doctors estimated that he had a week, maybe less. She hadn't even mentioned her idea to Howard yet, but she thought he knew what she was thinking.

David's only hope would be to become a vampire. Amanda told the watch that she knew a brilliant surgeon, which was true. She said that he could do things for David that no other doctor could, which was also true.

She just neglected to mention that he was a vampire.

Amanda was staying with Tom for now, and she told him the whole thing. "I need to make David into a vampire." Tom dropped the bottle of Mountain Dew he had been holding, and Amanda barely caught it before it hit the floor. "I've called the Cullens down from Washington. I know that I won't be able to do it myself."

Tom shook as he took the soda back. "You-you're bringing them h-here?" Amanda grabbed Tom in a frantic way, clutching his shoulders. "Am I doing the right thing? I can't even ask his permission. He's been completely out of it ever since he entered." she paused. "We're in love."

Tom backed up. "Wait. What? You didn't tell me!" She nodded ruefully. "We had just accepted that when he blacked out. I know that I barely know him, but we already know each other better than a lot of people ever do- well- do you know what I mean?"

Tom smiled. "I know what you mean." He said in this knowing way that made Amanda wish that she had Edwards power.

Amanda looked at him quizzically. He explained. "I've been seeing this girl Sarah for a while. It's difficult though- she knows that I'm keeping something from her. When you were missing those first couple months, I was jittery, and every little sound made me jump. She could tell that I was afraid of something, and it frustrates her that she feels I can't trust her."

A knock on the door that smelled distinctly female from Amanda's experience interrupted them. Amanda didn't enjoy all the secrecy in their lives and decided that she would do something for Tom. She opened the door, inviting her in. Sarah panicked when she saw the gorgeous brunette in the doorway, and for a wild second thought that Tom might be cheating.

However, they didn't seem like a couple. "Hi. I'm Tom's old friend Amanda. You must be Sarah. He says great things about you." Sarah smiled. An old friend. Not as threatening. They shook hands, and Sarah was startled at the cold touch. Tom looked freaked out, but that was a common emotion for him, Sarah knew. They sat back down on the furniture. "did Tom ever tell you about his other job?" Amanda started. Tom's eyes widened, and Sarah found herself intrigued. "No."

Amanda surreptitiously stood, locking the doors as she made her way around the room. She sat on the armchair opposite Tom, and made her eyes go red. "Well, he's a vampire hunter in his spare time." When she spoke, Sarah got a good look at the eyes, the paleness, and the very sharp teeth. She screamed, and backed away from both of them. "You-You're a-a v-v-v-vampire." She pointed a shaking finger at Amanda, who nodded. "Yeah. We used to be partners, back when I was human. He did the research, and I would go out and do the dirty work. But you don't have to worry- Tom is completely human, and I have a strict people-free diet." Sarah looked at Tom. "Dang." She breathed. She glanced at Amanda nervously. "So... you guys were reliving old times?" Amanda shook her head. "no. I was just bemoaning my current situation. David- my boyfriend, I suppose, needs a heart transplant within a week."

Sarah looked uncomfortable asking her next question. "Is he..." Amanda smiled. "He's one hundred percent human." Sarah sat down on the couch across from her. Amanda realized that the eyes were probably making her uncomfortable and so she dimmed down her vampiness. Sarah was suddenly filled with compassion for her. Sure, vampires were real but... (Oh my GOSH, vampires are real!) Her boyfriend was dying. Amanda looked at Tom. "So would it be okay for Dr. Cullen and his family to stay here for a few days?" Tom's face blanched. "you want me to- to-" Sarah noted with interest that he didn't seem his most comfortable with Amanda either. This made her oddly comforted. She wouldn't have to pretend around David that she was completely cool with everything.

"Umm..." He said after a long pause. "How long are they staying?" Amanda's smile became strained. "As long as it takes." Sarah put two and two together. "oh. OH!" she gasped. "You're making him a- a-" Amanda growled at the disgust in her voice. The feral sound caught Sarah off guard. "It's the only thing I can do. I need to go to the airport now." Amanda swept out of the house and took off in a sprint.

Sarah went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of Dew with shaking hands. Most of the liquid got on the floor, but at this point neither of them cared. They both tried to act as if the last minute or two hadn't taken place, unsuccessfully. Sarah turned to look at Tom, incredulous. "Tom- I thought you were a nerd, goshdarn." And that is when Tom Mapple knew that everything would be ok.

Sarah made sure to leave the house before the Cullens got there- Tom only had to mention the number 'seven' for her to realize that it might not be a good idea to hang around. Amanda had been shocked at the airport to see not only the seven Culen vampires, but a vamped out Bella with a baby in tow. "Her name is Renesmee, but some people call her Nessie."

Amanda didn't want to insult her, so she called her Renesmee as well.

Even though she wondered a bit at the name choice.

Another surprising addition to the crew- three werewolves. Jacob came, (Edward explained this later, which had made Amanda a little sick feeling- she was a baby!) as well as :Leah and Seth. They were a rather different pack than Amanda had met, and she didn't think she wanted to know what had happened. Dr. Cullen had consulted with the resident specialist at the hospital, which had made the watch fuss a little.

As soon as he had come through the door, forever young and as gorgeous as an angel, they realized that Amanda had been keeping things from them. They worried that he would lose control at all the blood, but he didn't seem to notice. He made the decision with the doctor to transport him to a private facility where he would get the care he needed. David opened his eyes for the first time, upon hearing Amanda conversing with unfamiliar voices. He gasped, seeing a host of strange vampires at his bedside. Where was he? The last thing he remembered, he had been with Amanda... and...

The blond doctor looked at his charts, making notes. "You need a new heart, David. And there's no donor that's a match. I'm afraid that you have to make a difficult decision right now. He turned his head to face Amanda, who confirmed his budding suspicions with a nod. He swallowed, and looked up again at the doctor. "This is the only way?" Amanda's eyes filled with tears. Edward looked on in shock. Could Amanda cry? "What about Howard?" Amanda shook her head. "I haven't told him exactly, but he knows. At least by now he does."

David winced, trying to sit up. "And is this the Cullen family right here?" The Forks vampires were mildly surprised about his knowledge. Amanda sat down by the bed, holding his hand. "Yeah. They know what they're doing." David thought. And thought. For the longest time there was no answer, and Edward wasn't sharing what was going through his mind.

After what seemed like ages, David nodded weakly. "I'll do it."

There was no time to lose. His condition deteriorated rapidly. They loaded him up into an ambulance, and sped him off to a remote part of a forest, where no hiker would dare to go.

David felt a sense of nervousness take over as he was strapped down to the stretcher. He looked up at the morphine drip that Carlisle was preparing. "How bad is it?" He whispered. Amanda gave him a dark look. "Three days of fire." He shuddered, but then looked at Amanda. "Will you be the one to bite me?" Amanda backed up. "Don't say that. Don't mention anything about blood. I'm tempted as it is to kill you right here." But David shook his head. "It has to be you." She turned towards Emmett and Edward. "You're going to hold me back if I go too far." They nodded. Leaning over the stretcher, Amanda's sense of humanity all but vanished. The smell and sound of blood, growing closer and faster... She sank her teeth down into the soft flesh of his neck, and was overwhelmed at the hot rush of sweet blood in her mouth. "Ah..." She murmured, drinking in as much of the blood as-

she felt two pairs of strong arms pulling her away from her meal, and she protested. But after she was far enough away that she couldn't smell him, she recognized his face. "Oh no." she whispered, breaking free of their grip. They couldn't stop her. But she didn't go back to her feast upon going back to the body. Carlisle injected more venom into his heart, and Alice had applied more bites to other parts of his body. His screaming, which he had tried to repress, burst through the otherwise silent forest painfully. His eyes darted around, until they focused on Amanda, who hovered over the bed, using her cold hands in a vain attempt to cool down the burning.

Days passed-

the screams grew hoarse-

until one day, they stopped. David opened his eyes, as if from a long and deep sleep. Gasping, he sat up in the chair. A bewildering array of scents assaulted him, and he saw the face of his angel, his Amanda, break into a relieved smile as she saw that he was unharmed. He closed his eyes. "It's over, isn't it. I'm a vampire." Amanda nodded sadly. "I really wish that I didn't have to stoop to that sort of evil." David shook his head. "No. There's no way I can believe that you're evil. You- you saved me." Amanda smiled ruefully. "Now though, you can't see anyone you know, no humans at all, for a year or so. I've condemned you to a life of solitude. It takes ages to really get over the blood."

She looked away. "I could have killed you. I nearly did." David got off of the stretcher, grabbing her in a hug. "So did I. Now we're even." He kissed her lips, long and slow. A small cough from in front of them reminded the two that they weren't alone. Amanda blushed, and again Edward wondered how she could do that. "How rude of me. David, this is Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Alice Cullen. Bella isn't here because she's protecting her half-human baby from your ferocious newborn appetite."

David wheeled around to see the other vampires. Every instinct in his body told him to defend himself- these were vampires, scum of the earth, and a threat to his own hunting area. But he had to get past all that. The memories- of teeth biting at his wrists, his ankles. A needle, plunged into his failing heart by a sadistic vampire doctor...

These...people had saved him. Had brought him life with Amanda. "Thank you.' He said finally, and he was surprised at his voice. He hadn't paid attention before, but he sounded so suave, so elegant... but wait... "Half vampire baby?" Edward cleared his throat. "Yes. In a very unlikely series of events, Bella became pregnant when she was still human. Our daughter is very...unique. She has human blood, but will grow to full maturity in about five years time." Amanda leaned over and whispered "Her name is Renesmee, of all things." Edward grinned. "I heard that. And we think that it's a beautiful name."

David shrugged. "It's fine to me." Amanda was incredulous. Well, she thought privately. When I adopt a kid I'm going to give it a name that's less ridiculous. Then, remembering that Edward could hear her, Amanda blushed. But Edward pretended not to have heard, and instead focused on a small irritation. "how is it that you are able to blush and cry, Amanda?"

She waved dismissively. "I can change appearances. Nothing like mind reading or emotion controlling." David looked at Amanda in alarm. "Mind reading?" Amanda winced. 'Yeah. They're incredibly gifted, this bunch. They've got..." she pointed to each Cullen in turn. "Super self control- Great love- insane beauty- strength- mind reading- future seeing- emotion manipulating- and if I'm not horrendously mistaken, Bella and Nessie have some freaky powers as well. Correct?" Edward smiled. "Bella can block the mental powers of others, and Renesmee uses touch to project her thoughts to people."

David laughed shakily, trying not to betray the blatant fear that he had. "We sure as heck can't tell Howard about this. Combined- the family has a score of about sixty or seventy." Edward told the other family members about the scale, and they were adequately impressed. But Edward took Amanda's hand. "You need to take him hunting." Amanda smiled, though it was forced. "How about it? Bloodsucking seems to be the only thing on the agenda for today- just make sure it's the right blood. We're teetotalers." Emmet cocked his head at Amanda. "Think you can handle a newborn on your own?"

Amanda responded with an eye roll. "You forget that he's not the only newborn around here. I can take him." She put up her fists lamely, not really sure if she could. Alice thought for a moment. "Just keep him away from the road. You should be fine." Seth and Leah stepped into the clearing. Seth clearly had more bounce in his wolfish step than Leah, who was not thrilled with all the vampires being made so willy-nilly. David's nose filled with a disgusting odor, and his muscles coiled to attack. Amanda put a firm hand over his teeth, which were aching to tear some flesh. "Yeah, werewolves. But they're on our side." David's red eyes narrowed. "Which side would that be?" She laughed. It really was getting harder to tell the difference between friends and enemies, especially nowadays. "The side of the Watch- they nobly protect the town of Forks from evil bloodsuckers such as the Cullens and ourselves."

And then David was gone. There was no smell of a vampire, no body. Amanda's hand was still clamped over a mouth, invisible though it may be. "Carlisle?" She said weakly. "Any explanation?" He stepped forward, curious. He ran a hand across the space where his hair was- and it still was. He looked at Amanda with sparkling eyes. "He has no smell or color- no kind of pigment at all. Did he ever display any uncanny skills or anything that would cause this?"

Amanda thought about all the times she hadn't been able to smell him sneaking up on her, the way he could creep in the shadows almost as well as a vampire. That day in the sewer- she'd been able to resist for so long because his scent was almost self masking from a distance..." Edward whispered this all to his father. "He could already suppress his scent, and he had extraordinary abilities as far as staying undetected." Amanda imagined him back to his normal looks, but she couldn't do anything about the lack of smell. The werewolves were uneasy- even Seth- about this latest turn.

This was a vampire who would be impossible to track if he went out of control.

Amanda smiled comically to David. "You're going to need to get that gift of yours under control so I don't have to work my bum off to give the wolves an easier time." David painstakingly pulled himself back into detectability. Amanda released her control on him with relief. "Ok. We know that you're bloody dangerous- now can we eat?"

When hunting alone, Amanda had enough to worry about. Not making a mess, not going near any human throats...

This concern was doubled as she was given the charge of feeding with David. They found a buck in a thicket, and Amanda tried to coach David quietly on how to be less loud and obvious. When the great beast was finally felled, Amanda nearly had to push David's head down to drink. "It's just not that appetizing." He had said with a wince.

Amanda grabbed his face. "It's this or rats. Humans may be appetizing, but just think about what you'd be doing. Think about when you released Stewart." She hated playing such a mean card on him, but she had to get him to accept the realities of their situation. Davids eyes flashed, and he dug into the animal with enthusiasm. "That's better." Amanda nodded. When she was sure that he wasn't going to run off in search of better blood, she joined him in the feast. When it was finished with, Amanda brought some bigger game over. "Ok, you had better not complain. This is a full grown bear. Pretty good stuff in the veins."

After they had gone through five more animals, Amanda felt better about bringing him back to "camp".

In their absence, a cabin had been built to contain David during his newborn training. It was spartan, but Amanda noted with embarrassment that there was a bed stowed in a closet. "We barely know each other." She muttered to no one. Thankfully, no one heard.

Amanda took a look at the walls. Andy Warhol prints? "Alice, you're amazing." The Cullens were at home in Chicago, spending some time there until they could be sure that David was manageable.

Amanda sighed, sitting on a chair. "Home sweet home."

A/N: Long, crazy chapter. Don't worry, I'm going to speed things up a bit. Review! I worry about the quality of this chapter more than I've worried about any chapter since Hunter!


	13. How hard can it be to bloody call?

Prey: How Hard Can It Be To Bloody Call?

Disclaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer, and I'm not profiting on copyright infringement.

A/N: Oh my gosh, I am a bad person. You've all probably forgotten that this story exists. I decided to shake things up a bit with this chapter, which is pretty long.

Howard was bloody furious. Amanda had made David into a vampire, of this he was sure.

But while this was bad enough, she hadn't bothered to tell him what she was planning, or that it had happened. No phone calls, no nothing. The Watch was all in a tizzy. Amanda- their supposed "good vampire" had just!!! They didn't really want to finish that thought.

It had been two months. (A/N: Haha, that's about right. How long HAS it been since I've updated? September.)

And David... their David...

David had practically been raised by the Watch. Adopted at a very young age, he had been taught all about vampires and why it was necessary to exterminate their lot all his life. And now, he had suddenly made the shocking decision to make himself into one of them.

Why, no one could say. Only Howard had been privy to the juicy secret of the vampire-human love that Amanda and David had recently confessed to.

One of the watch people, you already know his name, had his suspicions.

Joshua, the technological genius of the Watch, had been there on the plane to Chicago, right next to Amanda. As he was falling asleep, he had caught a disturbing glimpse of David's adoring face, directed towards a distracted Amanda. No, it couldn't be. But the evidence was staggeringly pointing in that direction now. The special care brought in- the mysterious circumstances of his faint. Amanda and Howard had been in the same room- what had transpired there, he wondered, that had sent David's heart over the edge?

Joshua thought he knew. He knocked the door of Howard's office. As he stepped in the door, he looked at Howard. "Does David have some reason to want damnation? A fellow vampire who's turned him to, as we say in geek circles, 'the dark side?'" Howard's face tightened. "Don't you go spreading anything around. The last thing we need is a bunch of wild rumors flying around. But Amanda and David..." He turned to the window.

"Were you involved in the watch ten years ago?" Howard said in a strained voice, reliving memories so long shut away.

"No sir."

Howard's lips twitched. "There was an office pool about the possibility of a match with David and Amanda. The smart money was that they would somehow end up together by the time they were twenty." He nodded towards the west section of the building. "Let's just say that Jenkins in accounting owes me twenty bucks." Joshua's eyes closed. "Do you approve?" There was no answer to that.

The truth was, Howard still wasn't sure if he approved.

Howard didn't ever give a definitive answer to this question, instead responding with a query of his own. "Can you track down Doctor Cullen? I need to give a message to his patient."

It was shockingly easy to get a hold of the Cullens. They had conspicuous cars, and faces that weren't too easily forgotten. They were at Tom Mapple's house, a fact that made Joshua wonder. Tom Mapple was hosting vampires in his house? He decided, for the sake of secrecy, to go on this mission alone, as much as he wanted to bring backup.

The door was opened right as his fist was going to come down to knock, and he was face to face with a small black haired leech. "You want to talk to Carlisle about David and Amanda?" she asked politely. "Because he's out right now. But, never fear, I have a number for Amanda. She was out there without a cell phone! We had to fix that right away." she clucked, pulling out a pen and writing the number on Joshua's shocked arm. She patted him on the hand. "There you go. Do you have any other business?"

He didn't, and it wasn't until he had left that he realized that the vampire's eyes were black. Hungry. No wonder he hadn't been able to stay long. He shivered. She had wanted to drink his blood. He pulled out his iPhone, and dialed the number that the leech had given him. One ring. "Hello? Who is this?" The silken voice of Amanda greeted him. "Amanda, is David a vampire?"

A small pause. "Ah. Joshua, you clever dog, you've got the nail on the head. Look, I'm sorry. Really sorry. More than you can imagine. But I'm keeping him under control. Don't worry. Do- do you want to talk to him?" Joshua prepared himself. David- coldly inhuman... "Hi Josh." The voice didn't sound a thing like the David he knew. It was smoother, more polished. It barely had a trace of the former human left. "I'll be able to visit soon. Amanda thinks that it's about time for me to test out my control- I'm getting a lot better. But I'm still the same... person. I'm going to go back to working for the Watch once I can be...human again. Both Amanda and I are going to. It will really make a difference- Amanda says that it's much easier to kill vampires this way. Tell Howard I'm sorry, but I had to."

Josh hadn't said anything. The silence was pressing uncomfortably on both of them. "Look, David..." he finally said. "Please. You can't expect us to just forgive you. No one knows about anything- it's still just speculation that you're actually a vampire. A lot of people think that Amanda's killed you. You can't possibly expect wide smiles and open arms accepting your new, improved, bloodsucking immortal self. And especially not when they know the reason. It's bad enough that- well, you took Cullen up on whatever offer he gave you. But you did it for Amanda- You fell in love with a vampire. It doesn't matter that it's her- you look like a traitor. It'll take a lot of work and time before anyone can look you in the eye and not be repulsed." And with that, he ended the call.

David looked at Amanda mournfully. "You heard that, I suppose." Amanda nodded. "The phone is rather loud." There was another call. Amanda picked it up. "Hello?" it was Alice. "Only one solution. You'll need to go with me on this. It's time for another wedding- and vampire hunters must be invited."

The phone fell to the floor. It broke, but they knew that Alice would come over anyways. "She didn't even give you time to propose!" Amanda said angrily. David smiled. "Well, will you?" Amanda rolled her eyes, and put a branch on her head, turning it into a veil. "Of course. Just slap on a dress and call me Mrs...." She paused. "You never actually told me your last name."

David's eyebrows raised. "You don't know my last name?" "Well, you were adopted, so it isn't Post, like your ID said. Can you believe that we technically have the same last name? That we're cousins by adoption? It's like Arrested Development all over again." His face looked blank for a second. "You know, that show with the cousins who are in love? George Michael and Maebey? In the end, I'm pretty sure that they find out that they aren't actually related." having failed to bring back any memory of the show, she went back to the original problem. "So, what is it?" David smiled. "Don't laugh. It's Harker." Amanda laughed anyways. "Seriously? Like the main character of Dracula? Jonathon Harker? His wife- Mina- nearly becomes a vampire herself. Oh, that is too funny..." David smiled. "Yeah, all of the Watch thought it was incredibly funny."

Their moment of levity was shattered by the sound of a car in the distance, and running feet. Amanda had heard enough about Bella's wedding to know that she was in for the whole hog. "Dear me." she muttered, burying her face in her hands.

A/N: I hope that was okay! Gosh, I feel so terrible for not updating. I've been really sidetracked with my own book and school and crap and marching band and whatever. I have no free time anymore. Bleah.


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